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1 



Churchyard Literature; 



LIGHT READING ON GRAVE SUBJECTS 



BEING A 



COLLECTION OF AMUSING, QUAINT, AND CURIOUS 



EPITAPHS 



ENLARGED EDITION. 



NEW YORK : • 
HURST & CO., PUBLISHERS, 

122 NASSAU STREET. 
l88l. 






COPYRIGHTED, 

C. NORTH END 

1881. 

HofD 



Part I 



REM ARKS. 



This volume contains a great variety of churchyard 
inscriptions, or Epitaphs, which have been gathered 
from various sources. Many of them have, from 
time to time, appeared in one of our best and most 
popular magazines.* Quite a number have also been 
taken from two English works. f It is not easy to 
account for some of the odd and curious expressions 
and styles which are to be found on tombstones in 
many of the cemeteries of the world. We not only 
find the biographical and historical, but also the 
adulatory, admonitory, deprecatory, punning, enig- 
matical, eccentric, ridiculous, etc. 

* Harper's Monthly. 

| Chronicles of the Tombs, by T. '5. Pettigrew, and Palmer's Epi- 
taphs. 

3 



REMARKS, 



It is believed that the specimens in this volume are 
correct copies, and, if they do not impart instruction, 
they may serve to amuse, — and possibly lead to a 
more thoughtful and appropriate preparation, or selec- 
tion, of monumental inscriptions. 

It is to be hoped that inscriptions like most of those 
to be found in this volume, will be a record of the 
past, and not be imitated in the future. 

C{ Praises on tombs are trifles vainly spent, — 
A man's good name is his best monument." 

They who live to do good, and "scatter blessings" 
along life's pathway, will "live in hearts they leave 
behind." and need no formal record of their merits 
on cold maibls. 

c. n 



EPITAPHS 



In Herndon Churchyard, England, is the 
following : 

" Beneath this stone Tom Crossfield lies, 
Who cares not now who laughs or cries ; 
He laughed when sober, and when mellow 
He was a harum-scarum harmless fellow. 
He gave to none designed offence,' 
So — ' Honi soit qui mal y pense/ " 



On Mr. Pepper, a Publican, at St. John's, 
Stamford, Lincolnshire : 

"Hot by name, but mild by nature, 
He brew'd good ale for every creature ; 
He brew'd good ale, and sold it too, 
And unto each man gave his due." 
l* 



EPITAPHS 



At one time, punning Epitaphs were very 
common. Several of this class will be given. 

"On Henry Miles. 
This tombstone is a mile-stone ; and why so ? 
Because beneath lies Miles, he's Miles below. 
A little man he was, a dwarf in size, 
Yet now stretched out, at least Miles long he lies. 
This grave, though small, contains a space so wide, 
There's Miles in length, and breadth and room beside." 



This is in the Churchyard of Arlington, in 
Devonshire, England : 

"On Thomas Huddlestone. 
Here lies Thomas Huddlestone. Reader, don't smile ! 

But reflect, as this tombstone you view, 
That death, who kill'd him, in a very short while 

Will huddle a stone upon you." 



In a Churchyard at Cork : 

'* Here lies Pat Steele, — 

That's very true ! 
Who was he? What was he 

What's that to you ! 
He lies here because he 

Is dead — not new !" 



EPITAPHS. 



We do not know in what locality the follow- 
ing tribute of conjugal affection is to be found : 
" Here lies my dear wife, a sad slattern and shrew, 
If I said I regretted her, I should lie too !" 



At St. Edmund's Bury : 
"Here lies Joan Kitchen, who, when her glass was 

spent, 
Kicked up her heels, and away she went." 



In Hackney Churchyard, to the memory qi 
Pete/ Stiver : 

" As -still as Death poor Peter lies, 
And Stiller when alive was he ; 

Still not without a hope to rise, 

Though Stiller then he still will be." 



In All Saints' Churchyard, Newcastle : 

" Here lies Robert Wallace, 

Clerk of All Hallows, 

King of good fellows, 

And maker of bellows. 
He bellows did make till the day of his death, 
But he that made bellows could never make breath." 



EPITAPHS, 



In a town in Connecticut a man died who 
had a large wen on the top of his head. On 
his tombstone are the following illustration and 
lines : 




et Our father lies beneath the sod, 
His spirit's gone unto his God ; 
We never more shall hear his tread 
Nor see the wen upon his head." 



In a Churchyard near Hartford, Conn., is 
the following : 

" Here lies two babies, so dead as nits ; 
De Lord he kilt dem mit his ague fits. 
When dey was too good to live mit me, 
He took dem up to live mit He, 
So he did." 



EPITAPHS. 



In Lillington Churchyard : 

*■ I poorly lived, I poorly died, 

And when I was buried nobody cried." 



In Brighton Old Churchyard : 

" His fate was hard, but God's decree 
Was drowned he should be in the sea." 



Mr. William Bell, minister of Errol (165 1- 
1665), bequeathed seven acres of land for main- 
taining a bursar at St. Mary's College, St. 
Andrew's. On his tombstone, the following 
lines have been engraved : 
"Here, ceast and silent, lies sweet-sounding Bell, 
Who unto sleeping souls rung many a knell ; 
Death crackt this Bell, yet doth his pleasant chiming 
Remain with those who are their lamps a-trimming; 
In spite of Death, his word some praise still sounds 
In Christ's Church, and in heaven his joy abounds." 



On a Connecticut tombstone is this stanza : 
" In usual health I left my home 

To see my friends abroad 
There God sent death and cut me down 

O reader be prepared." 



io 



EPITAPHS. 



The following illustrated Epitaph is from a 
grave-stone at Williamsport, Penn. : 




" Sacred to the memory of 

Henry H , 

Born June 27th, 1821, of Henry H , 

and Jane, his wife. 

Died on the 4th of May, 1831, by the kick of 

a colt in his bowels. 



Peaceable and quiet, a friend to 

his father and mother, and respected 

by all who knew him, and went 

to the world where horses 

don't kick, where sorrows and weeping 

is no more." 



EPITAPHS. n 



A headstone in New Milford, Conn., over 
the body of a child who was drowned in a cist- 
ern, bears the following lines : 

" In a moment he fled, 

He ran to the cistern and raised the lid, 

His father looked in, there did behold 

His child lay dead and cold." 



In Doncaster Churchyard, England, is this 
couplet : 

" Here lies 2 Brothers by misfortin serounded, 
One dy'd of his wounds & the other was drownded." 



A stone cutter recently received, from a 
German, the following Epitaph to be engraved 
upon the tombstone of his deceased wife : 

" My vife Susum is dead ; If she'd had life till 
next Friday she'd been dead shust two weeks. As a 
tree falls so must she stand. All things is impossible 
mit God." ______ 

At Dymock, Gloucestershire : 

" Two sweetur babes you nare did see 
Than God amity geed to wee 
But they wur ortaken wee agur fitts 
And here they lys has dead as nitts." 



12 EPITAPHS. 



In Peter-Church, Herefordshire : 

" Sickness was my portion, 

Physic was my food, 
Groans was my devotion, 

Drugs did me no good. 
The Lord took pity on me, 

Because he thought it best- 
He took me to His bosom, 

And here I lie at rest." 



At Manchester, England, a tombstone has 
the following : 

" Here lies John Hill 

A man of skill, 

His age was five times ten, 

He ne'er did good 

Nor ever would 

Had he lived as long again." 



A tombstone in Iowa (Burlington), has this 
stanza : 

" Beneath this stone our baby lays 
He neither cries nor hollers ; 
He lived just one and twenty days 
And cost us forty dollars." 



EPITAPHS. 13 



At Cross Kirk, Northmavine, Shetland : 

" M. S. 
Donald Robertson, 
Born 1st of January 1785; died 4th of June 1848, 
aged 63 years. 
He was a peaceable quiet man, & to all appearance 
a sincere Christian. His death was very much regret- 
ted, which was caused by the stupidity of Laurence 
Tulloch, of Clotherton, who sold him nitre instead of 
Epsom salts, by which he was killed in the space of 3 
hours after taking a dose of it." 



On a tombstone erected over the body of a 
young lady in Dorchester, Mass., is the follow- 
ing: 

" On the 21st of March 

God's angels made a sarche. 

Around the door they stood ; 

They took a maid 

It is said, 

And cut her down like wood." 



Over the grave of a little child is this coup- 
let : 

" Wak'd to light, she on this world did peep, 
Disliked it, closed her eyes and went to sleep." 



14 EPITAPHS. 



On the tombstone of an aged man and his 
loving consort, are the following lines: 
" Here lieth graven, under this stone, 
Thomas Knowles, both flesh and bone ; 
Grocer and Alderman, years forty, 
Sheriff and twice Mayor, truly : 
And tnat he should not lie- alone, 
Here lieth with him his good wife Joan ; 
They lived together sixty year, 
And nineteen children they had in fear." 



The following lines are from the tombstone 
of one not Over devout : 

" Here lies the body of Nicolas Gunn, 

Who died in the year eighteen hundred & one; 

Pray for the soul of Nicolas Gunn — 

You may if you please, or let it alone, 

For it is all one to Nicolas Gunn, 

Who died in the year eighteen hundred & one." 



This is from a tombstone in Cornwall, Eng- 
land: 

"Father and mother and I 
Lie buried here asunder ; 
Father and mother lie buried here 
And I lie buried yonder." 



EPITAPHS. 15 



Over the grave of a mechanic, noted for his 
ingenuity, the following lines were placed : 
" He was a man of invention great, 

Above all that lived nigh, 
But he could not invent to live, 
When God called him to die." 



The tombstone ot a sea captain Jn Massa- 
chusetts bears the following : 

" Though Boreas' blasts and NeptuneV waves 

Have tossed me too and fro, 
In spite of both, by God's decree, 

I harbor here below, 
Where I do at anchor ride 

With many of our fleet; 
Yet once again I must set sail, 

Our Admiral, Christ, to meet." 



On an old stone in Newburyport, Mass., 
where the name of Noyes is common, are th^se 
lines . 

" As you are, so was I, 

God did call, I did die. 

Now children all, whose name is Nove*, 

Make Jesus Christ your only choice " 



EPITAPHS. 



The following is said to be on a gravestone 
near London : 

" Poor Martha Shiell has gone away, 
Her would if she could, but her couldn't stay ; 
Her had 2 bad legs and a baddish cough, 
It was her two bad legs that carried her oft." 



A resigned husband placed on the headstone 
of his wife, with whom he had not lived hap- 
pily, the following : 

" Here lies my wife ; what better could she do 
For her repose, and for her husband's too." 



Near San Diego, California, a tombstone 
inscription thus reads : 

" This yere is sakrid to the memory of William 
Henry Skaraken, who cairn to his deth by bein shot 
by Colt's revolver — *one of the old kind, bras moun- 
tid and of sutch is the kingdom of heavin." 



On a tombstone on Lake Superior is inscribed 
these words : 

" J S . Accidentally shot as a mark of 

affection by his br.ther." 

Such affection ic certainly not to be coveted. 



EPITAPHS. \J 



The following inscription, on a tombstone in 
England, may be regarded as somewhat doc- 
trinal : 

" Bold infidelity, turn pale and die — 
Beneath this stone four infants' ashes lie; 

Say, are they lost or saved ? 
If death's by sin, they sinned ! because they are here ; 
If heaven's by works, in heaven they can't appear. 

Reason, ah ! how depraved ! 
Revere the Bible's sacred page, the knot's untied, 
They died, for Adam sinned ; they live, for Jesus 
died." 



The following lines are over the remains of 
Robert Trollop, architect of the Exchange and 
Town Hall at New Castle, England : 

" Here lies Robert Trollop, 

Who made yon stones roll up. 

When death took his soul up, 

His body rilled this hole up." 



On the tombstone of Rev. Joseph Moody, 
a somewhat eccentric pastor of the olden time, 
at York, Maine, is this couplet : 

"Although this stone may moulder into dust, 
Yet Joseph Moody's name continue must." 



EPITAPHS. 



The following quaint Epitaph is inscribed on 
a brass plate in the stone floor of the ancient 
parish church in Kendall, England : 

" Hereunder lyeth ye body of Mr. Ralph Tirck, 
late Vicar of Kendall, Batchelor of Divinity, who 
died the 4th day of June, A. D., 1627. 
London bredd me, Westminster fedd me, 
Cambridge spedd me, my sister wedd me, 
Study taught me, Living sought me, 
Learning brought me, Kendall caught me, 
Labor pressed me, sickness distressed me, 
Death possessed me, and grave possessed me, 
God first gave me, Christ did save me, 
Earth did crave me, and Heaven would have me." 



In Oxfordshire, the following lines appear on 
a head-stone : 

" Here lies the body of John Eldred, 

At least he will be here when he is dead ; 

But now at this time he is alive, 

The fourteenth of August, sixty-five." 



Over the body of a Mrs. Jennings, the 
mother of a numerous family, is this couplet : 
" Some have children — some have none — 
Here lies the mother of twenty-one." 



EPITAPHS. 19 



In the early settlement of Western New 
York, was a small family in which lived the 
parents of the head. In course of time, the 
old folks died, and the son, wishing to show 
proper respect for their memory, caused the 
following couplet to be inscribed on their tomb- 
stone : 

" Here lies a Father and a Mother true, 

A Granther and a Granny tue." 



The following stanza chronicles the cause of 
a sudden death and also the size of the bereaved 
family : 

" From life to death — a sudden stroke — 

His head was by a saw-gate broke ; 

The purple gore in streams did run ; 

He left a widder and one son /" 



In the Churchyard of St. John's, in the old 
city of Chester, the following lines are com- 
memorative of one Sarah Booth : 

"A good wife, a tender mother, 

It were hard to find out such another; 

In love she lived, in peace she died, 

And when God called he was not denied." 



EPITAPHS. 



On a gravestone in Ryegate township, Ver- 
mont, the following lines appear : 

" In memory of . He died in July, in 

the eightieth year of the American Era. He was an 
active, honest, and successful merchant, and a firm 
Democratic representative in the Legislature of Ver- 
mont. He died as he lived — happy." 
And then follows this stanza : 

" I lived on earth ; I died on earth ; 

In earth I am interred ; 

All that have life are sure of death ; 

The rest may be inferred." 



A tombstone at Saratoga had the following 
testimony and warning : 

tl Emma, dau'r of Abraham and Matilda C , 

and wife of Theodore S •, died Aug. 10, 1868, 

JE 26 yrs., leaving five children — married too young 
against her father's will. 

Single women take warning.." 



On the tombstone of a smuggler killed by 
the Excise Officers, is the following: ,^ 

" Here I lies, 
Killed by X 1 1." 



EPITAPHS. 21 



Oves. the grave of a man and wife, whose 
married life was somewhat contentious, is the 
following expressive and comprehensive line : 
"Their warfare is accomplished." 



One John Round was lost at sea, and in the 
cemetery of his native place a stone was erected 
on which this couplet was inscribed : 
if Under this sod lies John Round 
Who was lost at sea and never found." 



Over the remains of a young lady who died 
after* a brief illness is a stone with this stanza : 
" Her blooming cheeks were no defence 
Against the scarlet fever ; 
In five days' time she was cut down 
To be with Christ forever. " 



From a tombstone near London, the follow- 
ing lines are taken : 

" Here lies the body of Nancy H. Gwyn, 
Who was so very pure within 
She burst her outer shell of sin 
And hatched herself a cherubin." 



22 EPITAPHS. 



On a tombstone in the church of Quorndon, 
England, to the memory of a man and wife : 
" He first departed — she a little tried 
To live without him — liked it not and died." 



The following is from a cemetery in Maine, 
and was erected by the widow, who was clearly 
not in very great distress on account of the visi- 
tation of Providence, though she evidently felt 
very solicitous for a successor to the departed : 

"Sacred to the memory of James H. R m, 

who died Aug. the 6th, 1800. His widow who 
mourns as one who can be comforted, aged 24, and 
possessing every qualification for a good wife, lives at 
street, in this village." 



The three following are from Ashton church- 
yard, England : 

" Too much blood a vein did bust, 

And stretched Tom Tucker down in dust." 

" Here lies the body of William Dent, 
Death turned up his heels and away he went." 

" Here lies Dick, and here lies he 
Hallelu jar — Hallelu-gee." 



EPITAPHS. 23 



On a tombstone in Portland, Maine, over 
the body of a child, is this couplet : 
" The little hero that lies here 
Was conquered by the diarrhea/* 



A farmer in Indiana ordered the following 
inscription which, he said, " was written by the 
family," to be placed on the headstone of his 
son : 

" He died at nashville tennessee 

he died of chronic diaree 

it truly paneful must of bin 

to die so far away from home. ,, 



In the Old Church, near Christ Church, 
Bristol, England : 

" Here lieth Tho. Turar, and Mary, his wife. He 
was twice Master of the Company of Bakers, and 
twice Churchwarden of this parish. He died March 
6th, 1654. She died May 8th, 1643. 
Like to the baker's oven, is the grave, 
Wherein the bodyes of the faithful have 
A setting in, and where they do remain 
In hopes to rise, and to be drawn again ; 
Blessed are they, who in the Lord are dead, 
Though set like dough, they shall be drawn like bread." 



24 EPITAPHS, 



In an English Churchyard is a stone with 
these lines : 

" Here lies buried beneath these stones, 
The beard, the flesh, and all the bones 
Of the Parish Clerk — old David Jones." 



In the Churchyard of Winchester Cathedral, 
on Thomas Thetcher, 

" Who died of a violent fever caused by drinking cold 

small-beer after a quick march, May 2, 1 764.. 
Here sleeps in peace a Hampshire Grenadier, 
Who caught his death by drinking cold small-beer : 
Soldiers, be wise from his untimely fall, 
And when ye're hot drink strong, or none at all." 



On a tombstone in Collinsville, Conn., are 
these lines : 

'* Ann Lavan is my name, 
Ireland is my nation, 
Collinsville my intering place, 
Heaven is my station. 
While grass is green and roses red, 
This is my name when I am dead 

And all my bones are rottan, 
On this stone my name will be, 
When I am quite forgottan." 



EPITAPHS. 25 



The following lines are from a tombstone in 
Portsmouth, England : 

" Here lies retired from earthly scenes, 
A first lieutenant of marines, 
Who once did live in peace and plenty, 
On board the ship, the Diligente, 
Now stripped of all his war-like show 
And laid in box of elm below ; 
Confined in earth in narrow borders, 
He rises not till farther orders." 



From Luton Churchyard : 

" Here lies the body of Samuel Proctor, 
Who lived and died without a doctor." 



In Hammersfield Churchyard, Suffolk, on 
Robert Crytoft, ob. 1810, aet. 90: 

"As I walk'd by myself, I talk'd to myself, 

And thus myself said to me : 
Look to thyself, and take care of thyself, 
For nobody cares for thee. 

So I turn'd to myself, and I answered myself, 

In the self-same reverie j 
Look to myself, or look not to myself^ 

The self-same thing will it be." 



z6 EPITAPHS, 



In Lincoln Cathedral, a stone to the mem- 
ory of Doctor Otwell Hill, who died in 1616, 
aet. 56, bears a Latin inscription which, trans- 
lated, reads thus : 

« 'Tis Otwell Hill, a holy Hill, 

And truly, sooth to say, 
Upon this Hill, he praised still, 

The Lord both night and day. 
Upon this Hill this Hill did cry, 

Aloud the Scripture letter, 
And strove your wicked villains by 
Good counsel to make better." 



In the Churchyard at Childwald, England, 
is this stanza : 

" Here lies the body of John Smith 

Buried in the cloisters; 
If he don't jump at the last trump, 

Call, 'Oysters!'" 



The following is the Epitaph of Sheil, an 
Irish orator : 
" Here lies I. There's an end to my woes, 

And my spirit at length at case is, 
With the tip of my nose, and the end of my toes, 

Turned up against the roots of the daisies." 



EPITAPHS. 27 



On a tombstone in Worcester, England, is 
the following singular inscription : 

" Mammy and I together lived 
Just two years and a half ; 
She went first — I followed next, 
The cow before the calf." 



The following is an accurate copy of an 
inscription on a gravestone in Liverpool, Eng. : 

" Here lieth the body of Jane Coward, the wife of 
John Coward, that departed this life 20th May, 1826, 

aged 20. . __ 

My summons is Ny my 

Friends I blame my inward 

pains with pations bore all 

meddicons proved in vain." 



On Mrs. Mary Rogers, Folkstone, England: 
" Hear lyeth the bones of Mary Rogers, who left 
this world A. D. 1692; she was a goode mother, 
wifee, and daughterr. 

Al goud people, as you pass 

Pray reed my hour glass ; 

After sweets and bitters it's down, 

And I have left your pretty town. 

Remember soon you must prepare to fly 

From all your friends, and come to high." 



28 EPITAPHS. 



At Islington, England : 

"Humphrey Bridges, ob. 1770, set. 42. 
Reader, prepare to follow me, 
For as I am so shall ye be ; 
Thy body too must come to dust, 
Therefore prepare, for die you must. 
For life's uncertain, death is sure : 
Sin is the wound, and Christ the cure, 
Repent in time, and sin no more." 



The second wife of the Rev. S P >, 

of Hebron, Conn., was married at the age of 
seventeen and died within twenty days. Her 
monument bears this expressive inscription : 
"A wedding turned to lamentation, 
The greatest grief in all creation." 



In a Churchyard of Cornish, England, are 
the following lines, not very complimentary to 
the pater familias : 
" Here lies the body of Joan Carthew, 
Born at St. Columb, died at St. Kew; 
Children she had five, 
Two are dead and three are alive ; 
Those that are dead choosing rather 
To die with their mother than live with their father." 



EPITAPHS. 29 



The following is from a Churchyard in Corn- 
wall, England : 

" 'Twas by a fall I caught my death; 
No man can tell his time or breath ; 
I might have died as soon as then 
If 1 had had Physician men." 



The three next following are from the same 
cemetery (at Quorndon, Eng.): 

" The Lord saw good, I was lopping off wood, 

And down fell me from the tree ; 
I met with a check, and I broke my neck, 

And so death lopped off me." 

" Here lies entombed old Roger Norton, 
Whose sudden death was oddly brought on ; 
Trying one day his corn to mow of£ 
The razor slipped and cut his toe off 
The toe, or rather what it grew to, 
An inflammation quickly flew to ; 
The part affected took to mortifying, 
And poor old Roger took to dying." 



On the headstone of an infant three months 

old: 

" Since I am so quickly done for, 
I wonder what I was begun for." 



30 EPITAPHS. 



These lines are on the tombstone of a young 
lady in England : 

"Death loves a shining mark; 
And in this case he had it." 



On the tombstone of a man named "Cave/' 
is the following : 

" Here in this Grave there lyes a Cave, 

We call a Cave a Grave ; 

If Cave be Grave, and Grave be Cave, 

Then, reader ! judge, I crave, 

Whether doth Cave here lye in Grave, 

Or Grave doth lye in Cave? 

If Grave and Cave here buried lye, 

Then Grave where is thy victorie ? 

Go, reader, and report here lyes a Cave 

Who conquers death and buries his own Grave. " 



The following comes from Ohio : 
" Under this sod 

And under these trees 
Lieth the bod- 

y of Solomon Pease. 
He's not in this hole, 

But only his pod; 
He shelled out his soul 

And went up to his God." 



EPITAPHS 



On a stone in Cornwall, England, is a 
sculptured representation of a blacksmith shop, 
with shoes, nails, anvils, tongs, etc., and the 
following lines, commemorative of Thomas 
Cornish who died Jan. I, 1844, a g ec ^ 66 years: 
" My sledge and hammer lie declined, 
My bellows' pipes have lost their wind ; 
My fire's extinguished — coal decayed, 
And in the dust my vice is laid ; 
My iron's wrought, my life is gone, 
My nails are drove, my work is done." 



At Attleborough, Mass., over the body of 
a negro slave, called Caesar, is a stone with 
these lines : 

" Here lies the best of slaves, 

Now turning into dust; 
Caesar, the Ethiopian, claims 

A place among the just. 

His faithful soul has fled 

To realms of heavenly light, 

And by the blood that Jesus shed 
Is changed from Black to White. 

January 15, he quitted the stage, 

In the 77th year of his age, 

1781." 



32 EPITAPHS. 



In Highgate cemetery, London : 
lf Life's like a Winter's Day: 
Some only Breakfast and away; 
Others to Dinner stay, and are full fed; 
The oldest one but Sups and goes to Bed : 
Wretched is he that lingers out the day — 
He that goes the soonest has the least to pay." 
. f 

The following lines are on a tombstone at 
Childwald, England : 

" Here lies me and my three daughters, 

Brought here by using Siedlitz waters ; 

If we had stuck to Epsom salts, 

We wouldn't have been in these here vaults." 



These lines are from a Connecticut church- 
yard : 

" Here lies two twins, all side by side, 
Of the small-pox both of them died." 



In Chichester Cathedral yard, on a child 
aged fifteen months : 

" He woke, and took life's cup to sip ; 

Too bitter 'twas to drain ; 

He meekly put it from his lip, 

And went to sleep again." 



EPITAPHS. 33 



On a tombstone at Wood Ditton an iron 
dish is fastened, according to the directions of 
the deceased, and under it are these lines : 
" William Symons, ob. 1753, ast. 80. 
Here is my corpse, who was a man 
That loved a sop in the dripping pan ; 
But now, believe me, I am dead, 
So here the pan stands at my head. 
Still for sops to the last I cried, 
But could not eat and so I died. 
My neighbors, they perhaps will laugh, 
When they do read my Epitaph.'' 



In New Haven Churchyard, Sussex, to the 
memory of Thomas Tipper : 

" Reader, with kind regard this grave survey, 
Nor heedless pass where Tipper's ashes lay ; 
Honest he was, ingenuous, blunt, and kind, 
And dared do what few dared do, speak his mind. 
Philosophy and History well he knew, 
Was versed in Physick and in Surgery too; 
The best old Stingo he both brewed and sold, 
Nor did one knavish act to get his Gold ; 
He played through Life a varied, comic part, 
And knew immortal Hudibras by heart. 
Reader, in real truth, such was the Man; 
Be better, wiser, laugh more, if you can." 



34 EPITAPHS. 



A Mr. Home, who had lost four wives, 
caused the following to be inscribed on their 
monument : 

" To the memory of ray four wives, who all died 
within the space of ten years, but more pertickkr to 
the last, Mrs. Sally Home, who has left me and four 
dear children ; she was a good, sober, and clean soul, 
and may I soon go to her. A. D. 1732. 

Dear wives, if you and i shall all go to heaven, 

The Lord be blest, for then we shall be even. 
William Joy Home, Carpenter." 



A relieved and joyful husband caused the 
following lines to be placed on the headstone of 
his wife, — in Kilmury Churchyard: 

" This stone was raised by Sarah's lord, 
Not Sarah's virtues to record, — 
For they're well-known to all the town, — 
But it was raised to keep her down." 



On the tombstone of a tattling young lady, 
are these lines: 

" Beneath this stone, a lump of clay, 

Lies Arabella Young; 
Who on the 24th of May, 
Began to hold her tongue." 



EPITAPHS. 



35 



In a very old cemetery in Bayfield, Wiscon- 
sin, the following inscription is on one of the 
headstones : 

" BASIL, child of Jos. Davis, 

& Fleuvis Davis. Died 

On August, 1864, aged 4 years & 4 mths & 18 days. 

Struck 

by 

Thunder. 



From Rushville, N. Y., we get the follow- 
ing : 

"In my 23rd year I married me a wife, 
And lived with her 35 years of my life. 
Sixteen years after my life I resigned, 
And of my 8 children left 7 behind." 



In Cape May cemetery is a stone erected to 
the memory of 

" Mary Jane, 

Aged 1 1 yrs. and 8 mos. 
She was not smart, she was not fair, 

But hearts with grief for her are swelling 
And empty stands her little chair — 

She died of eatin' watermelin." 



36 EPITAPHS. 



In a Churchyard in the Isle of Thanet, a 
tombstone bears this inscription : 
"Against his will 
Here lies George Hill 
Who from a cliff 
Fell down quite stiff; 
When it happened is not known, 
Therefore not mention'd on this stone." 



Mr. Hugh Cargill came from Ireland and 
settled in Concord, N. H., where he died. 
The following lines are upon his headstone : 
" How strange, O God, who reigns on high, 
That I should come so far to die, 
And leave my friends where 1 was bred, 
To lay my bones with strangers dead. 
But I have hopes when I arise 
To dwell with thee in yonder skies." 



In Milbrook Churchyard, near Southampton, 
on Eliza Newman, died 1772: 
"Like a tender Rose Tree was my spouse to me; 
Her offspring Pluckt, too long deprived of life is she ; 
Three went before, Her Life went with the Six, 
J stay with the 3 Our sorrows for to mix, 
Till Christ our only hope, Our Joys doth fix." 



EPITAPHS. 37 



In Basingstoke cemetery, Hants, in memory 
of Anthony Curtis : 

" This world's a City full of crooked streets, 
And death the Market-place where all men meets ; 
If Life was Merchandise that men could buy, 
The rich would live and none but poor would die." 



The two next following are from tombstones 
in New Jersey : 

"Mr. John Lawrence who Nov. 6th first drew his 
breath, and Oct. 16th 1766 yielded to death. 
From London truly famed came I ; 
Was born in Stains a place near by ; 
In Rahway at old age did die ; 
And here intombed in earth must lie, 
Till Christ ye dead calls from on high." 

"Jacob Spicer, Esq., departed this life, Sept. 17th, 
1765, in the 49th year of his age. 

If aught that's good or great could save, 
Spicer had never seen the grave/' 



In Ombersley Churchyard, in Worcester- 
shire, England, are these lines: 

" Sharp was her wit, mild her nature, 

A tender wife, a good humored creature." 



38 EPITAPHS 



A man, who lived and died in a city of New 
Jersey, had his memory perpetuated by two 
headstones — one in the Presbyterian Church- 
yard, where his body now reposes, and the other 
in the Methodist ground, where it did repose, 
and from which it was removed. The stone 
in the latter yard bears this testimony : 
" Interred in this spot his body did lay, 
On the grounds selected, for which he did pay; 
But his widow would not let his body alone, 
Because his first children reared a stone. 
After his death his children and second wife 
Sought to hold what he had earned during his life, 
His first children no claim, no portion should hold, 
So they robbed his grave and his lot they sold." 



disconsolate widow in Michigan had 
these lines inscribed on the headstone of her 
deceased husband : 

" My dear husband, I erect this monument in mem- 
ory of you ; 
I hope it will be pleasing to God and to you." 



At Middletown, Conn. : 

"A loving wife and tender mother, 
Left this base world to enjoy the other. 



EPITAPHS. 39 



The following lines were appropriate enough 
on the tombstone of one who had led a selfish 
and useless life : 

" Here lies a man who did no good, 
And if he'd lived he never would ; 
Where he's gone or how he fares, 
Nobody knows & nobody cares." 



This rather reflects on a doctor : 
" Here Doctor Fisher lies interr'd 
Who filled the half of this churchyard." 



The following stanza is said to have been 
copied from a tombstone in Oxford, N. H. : 
" To all my friends I bid adieu ; 
A more sudden death you never knew : 
As I was leading the old mare to drink, 
She kicked and killed him quicker'n a wink." 



As an illustration of the exigencies of rhyme 
an English writer cites the following Epitaph 
from a tombstone at Manchester : 

" Here lies, alas ! more's the pity, 
All that remains of Nicholas Newcity. 
N. B. His name was Newtown." 



4 o EPITAPHS. 



The following Epitaph was on a young lady 
who died just previous to the day appointed for 
her wedding : 

" The wedding-day appointed was, 

And wedding dress provided; 
But ere the wedding-day arrived 
She sickened and she die did." 



The following is from a stone near Appo- 
mattox Court House, Va. : 

"Robert C. Wright was Born June 26th, 1772. 
Died July 2d, 1815, by the bloodthrusty hand of 
John Sweeny, Sr., Who was massacre with the Nife, 
then a Loudon Gun discharge a ball penetrate the 
Heart that Give the immortal wound." 



On a miser's tombstone : 

'* The wretched man who moulders here 

Cared not for soul or body lost, — 
But only wept, when death drew near, 

To think how much his tomb would cost.' 



The four next following are from a London 
paper — the first on William Wilson, Tailor : 
"Here lies the body of W. W., 
Who never more will trouble you, trouble you 



EPITAPHS. 41 



Over the remains of one Thomas Wood- 
cock are these lines : 

" Here lies the remains of Thomas Woodhen, 
The most amiable of husbands, and excellent of men. 
N. B. His real name was Woodcock, but it 
wouldn't come in rhyme. His Widow." 



An Epitaph in a Churchyard in Seven Oaks, 
Kent, England : 

" Grim Death took me without any warning, 
I was well at night, and dead at nine in the morning." 



" Here lies interred the mortal remains of Doctor 
John Osborne. Ask nothing further, traveller; noth- 
ing better can be said, nor nothing shorter. Ob. 31st 
May, 1753. JE 40. Life how short, eternity how 
long." 

The following lines were placed on the head- 
stone of a youth who was drowned : 

" Many stood round, 

Though none could save 

This blooming youth from a watery grave ; 

Great search was made the corpse to obtain, 

But all their searching was in vain. 

Long time elapsed — the corpse did rise, 

And eager friends did seize the prize." 



4 2 



EPITAPHS 



From the tombstone of a miser . 
"Here lies old 33 per cent. 
The more he made the more he lent, 
The more he got the more he craved, 
The more he made the more he shaved, 
Great God ! can such a soul be saved !" 



At Woodstock, Conn., is a stone with these 
lines : 

" Beneath this spot repose the remains of John 
Martin, Esq., who died in Providence, R. I., Sept. 1, 
1833, in the 71st year of his age." 

The following lines, written by himself a 
short time previous to his death, are, at his 
request, engraved on his monument : 

"An honest man is the noblest work of God, 
Wherever laid beneath the clod ; 
One who never falsifies his word 
Deserves the plume of 'any Bird.' " 



On a tombstone in South Carolina, is the 
following . 

tl Here lies the body of Robert Gordin ; 
Mouth Almighty and teeth accordin ; 
Stranger, tread lightly over this wonder; 
If he opens his mouth you're gone by thunder." 



EPITAPHS. 43 



In a cemetery near Paris, in France, a small 
lamp was at one time kept burning under an 
urn over a grave, and the following inscription 
was on the stone : 

" Here lies Fournier (Pierre Victor), 

Inventor of ' Everlasting Lamps,' 

Which burn only one centime's worth of oil in an 

hour. 

He was a good Father, Son, and Husband. 

His inconsolable Widow 

Continues his business at No. 10 Rue aux Trois ; 

Goods sent to all parts of the city. 

N. B. Do not mistake the opposite shop for this. 

S. V. P. R. I. P. 



On a tombstone in Ohio, are these lines 
" Hear the old man lies, 
No one laughs no one cries. 
Where he has gone or how he fares 
No one knows and no one cares 
But his brother James and his wife Emeline 
They was his friends all of the time." 



" Here lies Donald & his wife 
Janet MacFee 
Aged 40 hee 
And 30 shee." 



44 EPITAPHS. 



The following is said to be a literal copy of 
an inscription on a tombstone in Scotland : 
" Here lies the body of Alexander Macpherson 
Who was a very extraordinary person, 
Who was two yards high in his stocking feet, 
And kept his accouterments clean and neat. 

He was slew 

At the battle of Waterloo 

Plump through 
The gullet ; it went in at his throat, 
And came out at the back of his coat." 



From a tombstone in Oswego Co., N. Y. : 
" In Memory of 
The earthly house, or tabernacle of 

Sarah A , 

which fell Sept. 6th, 1847, 

which had been standing 

37 years and 5 months: 

Her Phsychology 

was the wife of 

Henry C. H , 

and daughter of 

Thomas and Mary ■ 

John XI, 26th. 

Believest thou this ? 

Yes ! Sarah lives." 



EPITAPHS. 45 



The five following are from ancient tomb- 
stones in Middletown, Conn., the stones bearing 
date 1682, 1691, etc. : 

" Beneath thys stonne 

Death's pris'ner lyes ; 

The stonne shall move, 

The pris'ner rise." 1682 

" Here lyes our Deaconne Hall 
Whoe studyed peace with alle, 
Was upprighte inne hys lyfe, 
Voide of malygnante stryfe; 

Gonne to hys restte 

Left us in sorrowe; 
Doubtless hys goode 

Works will hym followe." 1691. 

'- Beautiful flower of Middletown, 

How art thou cutted down ! cutted down ! 

te This lovely, pleasant child — 

He was our only one, 
Atho' we're buried three before — 

Two daughters and a son." 1753. 

l< Sacred to the memory of 

Charley and Varley, 

Sons of loving parents who died in infancy." 



46 EPITAPHS. 



On the headstone of a noted miser, is the 
following : 

"Here lies old Father Gripe, who never cried 'Jam 
satis/ — 

'T would wake him did he know you read his tomb- 
stone gratis." 



A man by the name of By water was drowned, 
and the following lines were placed on his head- 
stone : 

" Here lies the remains of his relatives' pride, 
Bywater he lived, and by water he died ; 
Though by water he fell, yet Bywater he'll rise, 
By water baptismal attaining the skies." 



From a tombstone in England : 

" Here lies William Smith, and what 
is somewhat rarish, 

He was born, bred, and hanged in 
this here parish." 



On a tombstone at Gettysburg, Penn. : 
" Remember man as 
you pass by that 
you must die as well as I." 



EPITAPHS. 47 



An inscription on a tombstone in East Tenn- 
essee concludes thus : 

" She lived a life of virtue and died of the cholera 
morbus, caused by eating green fruit, in the hope of a 
blessed immortality, at the early age of 21 years 7 
months and 16 days. Reader, go thou and do like- 
wise." 

In a cemetery in New London County, Ct., 
is a lot containing five graves — one in the cen- 
ter, the others near by at the four points of the 
compass. The inscriptions on the latter read 
respectively, after the name of the deceased ■ 

"My I wife." "My II wife." 

"My III wife." "My IIII wife."—- 

while the central stone bears the brief but com- 
prehensive inscription : 

"Our Husband." 



The following lines are from a rough head- 
board at a pass in the Rocky Mountains known 
as the « Devil's Gate " : 

" Here lies the body of Carrie Sodd 
Who has lately died and gone to God ; 
Which shows that redemption is never too late, 
For she was saved at the ' Devil's Gate.' " 



EPITAPHS. 



From Hollis, N. H., we get this : 
" Benjamin Parker, near eighty-three, 
Respectable you once did see ; 
His grandson now lies over him 
We all must feel the effect of sin." 1802. 



"Our Little Jacob 

Has been Taken Away from this Earthly Garden 

To Bloom 

In a superior Flower-pot 

Above." 



" Here lies my wife Sal lie ; let her lie, 
She's at peace and so am I." 



On a tombstone in New Hampshire : 

"Richard Jenkins here doth lay 
(Lately removed from over ye way), 
His body's here — his soul's in heaven, 
1767." 



At Kittery, Maine, is the following: 

" I was drowned, alas ! in the deep, deep seases, 

The blessed Lord does as he pleases, 

But my Kittery friends did soon appear, 

And laid my body right down here." 



EPITAPHS. 



One Sexton, an Englishman, had two wives, 
and this significant inscription was put upon the 
tombstone of one by the bereaved husband : 

" Here lies my wife, Sallie Sexton ; 

She was a wife who never vexed one ; 

I can't sav that for her at the next stone." 



The following is from a tombstone in Had- 
ley Churchyard, England : 

" The charnal mounted on the w— 

Sets to be seen in funer— 

A matron plain, domestic— 

In care and pain continu— 

Not siow, not gay, not prodig— 

Yet neighborly, and hospit- 

Her children seven yet living 

Her sixty seventh year hence did c- 

To rest her body natur— 

In hopes to rise spiritu- 



V ALL/ 



The following is from a tombstone in New 
Jersey : 

' " Reader, pass on ! — don't waste your time 
On bad biography and bitter rhyme ; 
For what / am, this crumbling clay insures, 
And what / was, is no affair of vours '" 



5 ( 



EPITAPHS. 



The following may be found on a tombstone 
in Nottinghamshire, England : 

'.* Sacred to the memory of John Walker, the only 
son of Benjamin and Ann Walker, engineer and pali- 
sade maker, died Sept. 23d, 1832, aged, 36 yrs. 

Farewell my wife and father dear, 

No engine powers now do I fear ; 

My glass is run, my work is done, 

And now my head lies quiet here. 

Tho* many an engine I've set up, 

And got great praise from men ; 

I made them work on British ground 

And on the roaring main. 

My engine's stopped, my valves are bad, 

And lies so deep within, 

No engineer could here be found 

To put me new ones in : 

But Jesus Christ converted me, 

And took me up above ; 

I hope once more to meet once more, 

And sing redeeming love." 



The following is from Ireland, 1781 : 

"Ah cruel Death ! why so unkind 

To take her, and leave me behind ? 

Better to have taken both or neither, 

It would have been more kind to the Survivor." 



EPITAPHS. 5: 



In the Potter's field at Yorkville, Canada, is 
the following : 

"Come all young men as you pass by, 
And stop and read before you cry. 
I am the mother of 7 children, 

4 sons have I. 
3 of them was wicked and wild which 
caused me here to lie. 

The 8th of April I walked to the jail. I saw my 
son in chains. The 1.6th of April I took my bed, the 
25th then I died. I have an honest and industrious 
husband that you all know so well. He provided a 
living for us while travelling here below. My sister, 
standing by my side, thus to me did say: — 'Have 
you made your peace with the Lord ? ' I answered, 
'Yea.' I bowed my head, closed my eyes, and said, 
' good by, my friends, good by : I have no more to 
say/ " 



The four next following are from tombstones 
in Connecticut : 

" I gave this ground, 

I'm laid here first; 

Soon my remains 

Will turn to dust. 

My wife and progeny around, 

Come sleep with me 

In this cold ground." 



EPITAPHS 



e * My fellow youth, stop here awhile, 
And see my monumental pile ; 
Once I like you alive : But ah ! 
Am nothing now but native clay." 



" He heard the angels calling him 
From that celestial shore, 
So he plumed his soul's bright pinion 
And made one angel more." 



" My friends will pass this lonesome place, 
And with a sigh move slow along 
While gazing at those spears of grass 
Which will be o'er my body grown." 



A headstone in Wat-ertown, Mass., bears 
this inscription: 

Pious Lydia made and given by God 
As a most meet help unto John Baily, 

Minister of the Gospel. 
Good betimes — Best at last 
Lived by faith — Died in grace, 
Went off singing — Left us weeping, 

Walked with God till translated in the 39th yeare of 
her age, April 16, 1691. 

Read her Epitaph in Prov. XXXI, 10, 11, 12, 28, 

29, 30, and 3 1." 



EPITAPHS. 53 



The following is from a tombstone in Con- 
necticut : 

" Now she is dead and cannot stir ; 

Her cheeks are like the faded rose ; 
Which of us next shall follow her, 
The Lord Almighty only knows. 

Hark ! she bids all her friends adieu ; 

An angel calls her to the spheres ; 
Our eyes the radiant saint pursue 

Through liquid telescopes of tears." 



A Mrs. Hannah Jones piously raised a tab 
let to the memory of her departed husband, 
who had been a hosier. The inscription, after 
recounting the many virtues of the deceased? 
closes with the following couplet : 

" He left his hose, his Hannah, and his love, 
To go and sing hosannah in the realms above." 



A headstone in New Hampshire, over the 
remains of a young lady who was shot by a 
yo*th, has this stanza : 

" Here lies our beloved daughter, 
Killed by the hand of the malicious Henry, 
Who on the way to school he met her 
And with a six self-codted pistol shot her." 



54 EPITAPHS. 



In Oxfordshire, England : 

" Sir Cope D'Oyly. 

To the glorious memorie of that Noble Knight, 
Sir Cope D'Oyly, late Deputy Lieut, of Oxfordshire, 
and Justice of Oyer and Terminer. Heir of the 
antient and famous Family of the D'Oylys, of the 
same countie, Founders of the Noble Abbies of Osney 
and Missenden, &c. 

Who put on Immortality the 4th of Aug., in the 
Year of our Redemption, 1633. 

Ask not who is buried here. 

Go ask the Commons, ask the Shire, 

Go ask the Church, They'll tell thee who, 

As well as blubber'd eyes can do. 

Go ask the Heralds, ask the poor ; 

Their Ears shall have enough to ask no more. 

Then if thine Eye bedew this sad urn, 

Each drop a Pearl will turn 

To adorn his Tomb, or, if thou can'st not vent, 

Thou bringst more Marble to his monument." 



On the headstone of a deceased clergyman at 
East Hampton, Conn., are these singular lines:. 

" On this monument is inscribed 
Virtuous bands of Hymen's yoke : 
Each kindred mind by grace refined 
With angels joined his mate shall find." 



EPITAPHS. .55 



One Robert Baxter, of Farhouse, was sup- 
posed to have been poisoned by a neighbor. 
The poison was placed upon some bread and 
butter, and ate by Baxter on his way to the fell. 
The following lines are upon his tombstone at 
Knaresdale . 

" All you that please these lines to read, 
It will cause a tender heart to bleed. 
I murdered was upon the fell, 
And by the man I knew full well ; 
By bread and butter which he'd laid, 
I, being harmless, was betrayed. 
/ hope he will rewarded be 
That laid the poison there for me." 



In Grantham Churchyard, England : 

" John Palfreyman, who is buried here, 
Was aged four and twenty year ; 
And near this place his mother lies, 
Likewise his father when he dies." 



On a tombstone at Lyme, Conn. : 
" This Deacon, aged 68, 
Is freed on earth from sarving: 
May he for a crown no longer wait : 
Lyme's Captain, Reynold Marvin.' 



56 PITAPHS, 



At Saragossa, Spain, is the following : 
" Here lies John Quebecca, precentor to My Lord, 
the King. When he is admitted to the choir of 
angels, whose society he will embellish, and where he 
will distinguish himself by his powers of song, God 
shall say to the angels : ' Cease, ye calves ! and let 
me hear John Quebecca, precentor of My Lord, the 
King!'" 

One Sternhold Oakes offered a prize for the 
best Epitaph to be placed on his tombstone. 
Several were offered, but all rejected on the 
ground that they flattered him too much, and he 
finally wrote this coupl&t himself: 

" Here lies the body of Sternhold Oakes, 
Who lived and died like other folks." 



In Whittlebury Churchyard, Northampton- 
shire : 

"John Heath, 1767, set. 27. 

While Time doth run, from sin depart ; 

Let none e'er shun Death's piercing dart ; 

For read and look, and you will see 

A wondrous change was wrought on me. 

For while I lived in joy and mirth, 

Grim Death came in and stopped my breath; 

For I was single in the morning light, 

By noon was married, and was dead at night." 



EPITAPHS 



On a tombstone at Folkstone (1688), are the 
following lines, in memory of Rebecca Rogers : 
" A house she hath, 'tis made of such good fashion 
The tenant ne'er shall pay for reparation ; 
Nor will her landlord ever raise her rent, 
Or turn her out of doors for non-payment; 
From chimney-tax this cell's forever free, — 
To such a house, who would not tenant be ?" 



In a Churchyard at St. Anne's, Isle of Man, 
is the following inscription : 

''Daniel Tears, ob. Dec. 7, 178 1, ast. 110 years. 
Here, friend, is little Daniel's tomb ; 

To Joseph's age he did arrive, 
Sloth killing thousands in their bloom 

While labor kept poor Dan alive. 
Though strange, yet, true, full seventy years 
His wife was happy in her Tears /" 



In Longnor Churchyard, Stafford : 
" William Billings, a soldier in the British army 75 
years, 
Died 1793, aged 114 years. 
Billeted by death, I quartered here remain, 
And when the trumpet sounds, I'll rise and march 
again." 



5 



EPITAPHS 



From a tombstone in Pennsylvania : 
" Battle of Shiloh, 
April 6, 1862. 

John D. L was born March 26th, 1839, in the 

town of West Dresden, State of New York, where 
the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at 
rest." 

The following lines, commemorative of one 
Isaac Greentree, are in Harrow Churchyard, 
England : 

" Beneath these green trees rising to the skies, 
The planter of them, Isaac Greentree, lies ; 
A time shall come when these green trees shall fall, 
And Isaac Greentree rise above them all." 



On Thomas Kemp, who was hanged for 
sheep stealing : 

" Here lies the body of Thomas Kemp, 
Who lived by wool, but died by hemp ; 
There's nothing would suffice this glutton, 
But, with the fleece, to steal the mutton ; 
Had he but work'd and lived uprighter, 
He'd ne'er been hung for a sheep biter." 



'■[ She's gone and cannot come to we 
But we shall shortly go to i.he." 



EPITAPHS. 59 



Copied from a stone in the Churchyard of 
East Grimstead, in Sussex : 

" In memory of Russell Hall, 

And Mary his wife. 
He died March 25th, 1816, 

Aged 79 years. 
She died August 22, 1809, 

Aged 58 years. 

The ritual stone thy children lay 

O'er thy respected dust, 
Only proclaims the mournful day, 

When we our parents lost. 
To copy thee in life we'll strive, 

And when we that resign 
May some good-natured friend survive 

To lay our bones by thine." 



One Capt. Jones was a great traveler and 
fond of telling large stories, some of which he 
verified by an oath. When he died, the follow- 
ing Epitaph was placed on his tombstone : 
" Tread softly, mortals, o'er the bones 
Of the world's wonder, Captain Jones ! 
Who told his glorious deeds to many, 
P-ut never was believed by any. 
Posterity, let this suffice : 
He swore all's true, yet here he lies." 



6o 



EPITAPHS. 



A tombstone in Germany has a represent- 
ation of an ox, with head depressed and tail 
elevated, evidently in the act of thrusting his 
horns into a chalk white individual pressed 
against a rock, — and under the same is the 
inscription which follows : 



4^^ 



^Z^> 




" By the thrust of ox's horn 

Came I into heaven's bourn ; 

All so quickly did I die, 

Wife and children leave must I ; 

But in eternity rest I now, 

All through thee, thou wild beast, thou !" 



This couplet is from an old tombstone : 
" He lived and died a true christian, 
He loved his friends and hated his enemies." 



EPITAPHS. 61 



The following lines are on the tombstone of 
Peter Snell, for 35 years parish clerk of Cray- 
ford, Kent, England : 

" The life of this clerk was just three score and ten, 
During half of which time he had sang out, amen ! 
In his youth he married, like other young men; 
His wife died one day, so he chanted, amen ! 
A second he took, she departed, — what then? 
He married and buried a third with — amen ! 
Thus his joys and his sorrows were treble, but then 
His voice was deep bass, as he chanted, amen ! 
On the horn he could blow as well as most men, 
But his horn was exalted in blowing, amen ! 
He lost all his wind after three score and ten, 
And here with three wives he waits till again 
The trumpet shall rouse him to sing out, amen !" 



One Robert Kemp placed the following lines 
on the tombstone of his deceased wife : 
*' She once was mine, 
But now, O Lord, 
I her to thee resign, 

And remain, your obedient, humble servant, 

Robert Kemp. ,, 



" Here I lies and no wonder I'm dead, 

For the wheel of a wagon went over my head. 5 



62 EPITAPHS. 



In Pewsey Church, England: 

" Here lies the body 

of 

Lady O'Looney, 

Great niece of Burke, 

commonly called * The Sublime.' 

She was 

bland, passionate, and deeply religious ; 

Also she painted 

In water colours, 
And sent several pictures 
To the Exhibition. 
She was first cousin 
To Lady Jones; 
And of such 
Is the Kingdom of Heaven." 



On the tombstone of twin sisters, who died at 
the same time and were buried in the same grave: 
f< Fair marble ! tell to future days 

That here two virgin sisters lie, 
Whose lives employ'd each tongue in praise, 

Whose deaths gave tears to ev'ry eye. 
In stature, beauty, years and form, 

Together as they grew they shone ; 
So much alike, so much the same, 

That death mistook them both for one !" 



EPITAPHS. 63 



On a tombstone at Wolverhampton, in 1690, 
are these lines : 

" Here lies the bones 

Of Joseph Jones, 
Who eat while he was able; 

But once o'erfed, 
He dropped down dead, 

And fell beneath the table. 
When from the tomb, 

To met his doom, 
He rises amidst sinners ; 

Since he must dwell 
In heav'n or hell, 

Take him — which gives best dinners." 



A bereaved husband in Berkshire County, 
Mass., caused the following complimentary 
notice to be placed on the tombstone of his 
third wife: 

" The best wife I ever had." 



The following is from an English tombstone 
erected to the memory of Edward Everard : 
" You was to good to live on earth with me, 
And I not good enough to die with thee : 
Farewel, dear husband ; God would have it so ; 
You V near return, but I to you must go." 



64 EPITAPHS. 



On William More, in Stepney Churchyard, 

Eng. : 

" Here lies one More and no more than he ; 
One More and no more! how can that be ? 
Why one More and no more may lie here alone ; 
But here lies one More, and that's more than one !" 



The three next following are copies of Epi- 
taphs upon the tombstones of xepresentative 
men in the Indian tribes of New England. 

At Oldtown, Maine, over the body of 
Orono, chief of the Penobscocs, who died at 
the age of 113, in 1801, a tombstone bears the 
following : 

" Safe lodged within his blanket, here below, 

Lie the last relics of old Orono ; 

Worn down with toil and care, he in a trice 

Exchanged his wigwam for a paradise." 



In the Mohegan Burial ground, near Nor- 
wich, is the following : 
" Here lies the body of Sunseeto, 
Own son to Uncas, grandson to Oneeko, 
Who were the famous sachems of Moheagan, 
But now they are all dead, I think it is zverkeegen." * 

* All well, or good news. 



EPITAPHS. 65 



An old stone, in a cemetery at Norwich, 
Conn., to the memory of the noted chief, Un- 
cas, has the following Epitaph : 
"Samuel Uncas. 
For Beauty, wit, for Sterling sense, 
For temper mild, For Eliquence, 
For Courage Bold, for things wauregan, 
He was the Glory of Moheagon — 
Whose death has Caused great lamentation 
Both to ye English and ye Indian Nation." 



This comes from England : 
" Tom Dowley died when God decreed, 
Though they blister'd him sore and twice did bleed, 
So do what you may, at the voice of God, 
You must join poor Dowley under the sod." 



On a tombstone in Essex, England, are the 
following significant lines: 

" Here lies the man Richard, 

And Mary his wife ; 
Their surname was Prichara, 

They lived without strife; 
And the reason was plain — 

l'hey abounded in riches, 
They no care had, nor pain, 

And the wife wore the breeches." 



66 EPITAPHS. 



The following is from a tombstone in New- 
ton, Mass., over the remains of Captain Thos. 
Prentice, who died in 1709 : 

" He that's here interr'd needs no versifying ; 

A virtuous life will keep the name from dying ; 
He'll live though poets cease their scribbling rhyme, 
When that this stone shall moulder'd be by time." 



In Dorchester, Mass., the following stanzas 
are over the remains of two children (Abel and 
Submit) in one grave : 

" Abel, his offering accepted is ; 
His body to the grave, his soul to bliss, 
On October twenty and no more, 
In the year sixteen hundred 44. 

Submit, submitted to her heavenly king, 
Being a flower of the eternal Spring; 
Near 3 years old she died in heaven to wait, 
The year was sixteen hundred 48." 



A tombstone in England has this stanza : 

" Here I lie : no wonder I'm dead, 

For a broad-wheeled wagon went over my head. 

Grim Death took me without a warning ; 

I was well at night and died in the morning." 



EPITAPHS. 67 



Rebecca Freeland, who died at Edwalton, 
in 1 741, has the following on her tombstone: 
" She drank good ale, good punch, and wine, 
And liv'd to the age of ninety-nine." 



The five next following are correct copies of 
Epitaphs found in a Churchyard at Bridport, 
Vermont : 

" My time on earth is done you see, 
For the great judge hath cal'd for me, 
Whose call I'm ready to obey 
And Launch into eternal day." 

" And now away from me she's gone, 
And never more for to return, 
But I to her shall shortly go 
And leave all earthly things below." 

" Lovely in life, bewald in death, 
A lingering summons call'd her breath 
She is gone we hope to Glorious rest, 
In G° s d her Saveiour's image blest." 

" My husband, friends, I bid you all adieu, 
I leave you in God's care. 
My son i'll never more see you, 
Prepare to meet me there." 



68 EPITAPHS 



" Far from his family and holm and tears 
of strangers awaited him to his grave." 



Many years ago the papers contained an 
account of the funeral of a Kentish miller. 
He left generous legacies to his executors, on 
condition that they should bury him under the 
mill and place the following lines, composed by 
himself, over his remains : 

" Underneath this ancient mill, 
Lies the body of poor Will. 
Odd he lived and odd he died, 
And at his funeral nobody cried ; 
Where he's gone and how he fares 
Nobody knows and nobody cares." 



A tombstone in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 
bears the following inscription : 

(i Din, Dan, my Passing bell, 
Fare you well my Mother 
Burie me in my own churchyard 
Beside my own dere Brother 
When I die my Conn is Black 
With six Brite Angils on my back 
tow to Sing and tow to pray 
And tow to carry my Sole away." 



EPITAPHS. 69 



On a tombstone at Montrose, Scotland, is 
the following, bearing date 1757 : 

" Here lyes the Bodeys of George Young and Isa- 
bel Guthrie, and all their posterity for more than 
fifty years." - __ 

Many years ago, there lived in the town of 
Ledyard, Conn., a man who had several times 
attempted to commit suicide. He finally died 
from the effects of disease. In due time a 
stone was erected to his memory, and on it was 
placed this plain and significant inscription: 
" He died an honest death." 



In the old Churchyard at Beturbet, Ireland, 
is the following : 

ei Here lies John Higley whose father and mother were 
drowned in their passage from America. 

Had they both lived, they would have been buried 
here. 1 ' 

The following Epitaph is upon an old toper 
buried in Durham Churchyard, England : 
" Beneath these stones repose the bones 

Of Theodosius Grimm, 
He toak his beer from year to year, 
And then his bier took him." 



r , ■ : 

70 EPITAPHS. 



"John Webb, 

Son of John and Mary Webb, Clothiers, who died of 

the measles, May 3d, 1646, aged 3 years. 

How still he lies ! 

And clos'd his eyes, 
That shone as bright as day ! 

The cruel measles, 

Like clothiers' teasles 
Have scratched his life away. 

Cochineal red 

His lips have fled, 
Which now are blue and black 

Dear pretty wretch, 

How thy limbs stretch, 
Like cloth upon the rack. 

Repress thy sighs, 

The husband cries, 
My dear, and not repine, 

For ten to one, 

When God's work's done 
He'll come off" superfine" 



At Aberdeen, Scotland, is the following 
stanza : 

" Here lies I, Martin Elmrod ; 
Have mercy on my soul, gude God, 
As I would have on thine gin I were God, 
And thou wer't Martin Elmrod." 



EPITAPHS. 7 



A monument in Horsley-Down Church, 
Cumberland, England, bears the following sin- 
gular and admonitory inscription (1768): 
" Here lie the bodies 
Of Thomas Bond and Mary his wife. 
She was temperate, chaste, and charitable ; 
But 
She was proud, peevish, and passionate. 
She was an aflectionate wife, and a tender mother ; 
But 
Her husband and child, whom she loved, 
Seldom saw her countenance without a disgusting 
frown, 
Whilst she received visitors, whom she despised, with 
an endearing smile. 
Her behaviour was discreet towards strangers ; 
But 
Independent in her family. 
Abroad, her conduct was influenced by good breeding ; 
But 
At home, by ill temper. 
She was a professed enemy to flattery, 
And was seldom known to praise or commend ; 

But 

The talents in which she principally excelled, 

Were difference of opinion, and discovering flaws and 

imperfections. 



EPITAPHS 



She was an admirable economist, 

And, without prodigality, 

Dispensed plenty to every person in her family ; 

But 

Would sacrifice their eyes to a farthing candle. 

She sometimes made her husband happy with her 

good qualities ; 

But 

Much more frequently miserable — with her many 

failings : 

Insomuch that in thirty years cohabitation he often 

lamented 

That maugre all her virtues, 

He had not, in the whole, enjoyed two years of 

matrimonial comfort. 

At Length 

Finding that she had lost the affections of her husband, 

As well as the regard of her neighbours, 

Family disputes having been divulged by servants, 

She died of vexation, July 20, 1768, 

Aged 48 years. 

Her worn out husband survived her four months 

and two days, 

And departed this life, Nov. 28, 1768, 

In the 54th year of his age. 

William Bond, brother to the deceased, erected this 

stone, 



EPITAPHS. 73 



As a weekly monitor to the surviving wives of 
this parish, 

That they may avoid the infamy 
Of having their memories handed to posterity 

With a Patch Work character." 



A very old gravestone in Newburyport, 
Mass., has these words : 

" A resurrection to immortality is here expected 
for what was mortal of the Reverend Mr. John Rich- 
ardson, once fellow of Harvard College, afterwards 
teacher to the church of Newbury. 

Put off April 7, 1676." 



A SEA-Captain of Sag Harbor, Long Island, 
placed upon the tombstone of his third wife the 
following lines: 

" Behold, ye living mortals passing by, 
How thick the partners of one husband lie, 
Vast and unsearchable the ways of God : 
Just but severe his chastening rod." 

It may be added that, notwithstanding the 
severity of the cc chastening rod," the Captain 
put himself in a similar condition for discipline 
twice more. 



74 EPITAPHS. 



James Orr, weaver, thus celebrates his wife 
and children : 

"Affliction sore with meekness long I bore, 

Physicians were in vain, 
Till God did please that Death should seize, 

And eas'd me of that pain. 
Here also lies 2 girls, 2 boys, 
They were part of my earthly joys ; 
But life's a jest, and all things show it : 
I once thought so, but now I know it." 



The following inscription on a headstone in 
the old burial ground in Quakers' Farms, Oxford, 
Conn., marks the death of a husband and three 
of his wives — a vacant niche being left for the 
name of the fourth spouse : 

S. H. m. H. Z. H. R. H 

1741. 1774. 1806. 1786. 

By this stone are deposited the remains 

of Capt. Zachariah Hawkins, 

a worthy and respectable member of Society, 

who in the 90th year of his age died in faith 

and hope, June 27th, mdcccvi. 

He had 14 children, who all survived him, 

2 grand-children, & 95 great-grand-children. 



EPITAPHS. 75 



Sarah, his first wife, is buried in Derby — 
by whom he had Sarah & Mercy. 

Mary, his zd wife, is buried 1 2 feet on the 

left of this stone — by whom he had 

Mary, John, Elizabeth, Elijah, Arma, Gaylord, 

Ruth, Silas, Joseph, Moses, 

& Isaac. 

Rachel, his 3d wife, lies close by this 
on the left, by whom he had Zachariah. 

o 

Lydia, his relict, and his sons 

erect this Monument, their tribute 

of gratitude, love, and honour." 



At Southrey, England, ob. 1638: 
"Jane Tyrrell. 
Here rests that just and pious Jane, 
That ever hated all that's vayne ; 
Her zeal for God, made her desire 
T 'have dyed a martyr in the lire; 
Or into thousand pieces small, 
Been cutt to honour God with all, 
Her life right vertuous, modest, sober; 
Ended the 7th day of October, 1638: 
Her purest soul 'till the body rise, 
Enjoys heaven's peace in paradise. 
Her virtues hid from common sight, 
Enforc'd her husband these to write." 



76 EPITAPHS. 



In Ash Church, Kent, on a brass, a very 
unusual, if not singular, instance of the kind : 

"J ohn Brooke of the parish of Ashe 
O nly he is nowe gone. 
H is days are past, his corps is lay'd 
N ow under this marble stone. 

B rookstrete he was the honor of 
R ob'd now it is of name, 
O nly because he had no sede 
O r children to have the same ; 
K nowing that all must passe away, 
E ven when God will, none can denay. 

He passed to God in the yere of Grace 

One thousand fyve hundredth ffower score and two 

it was, 
The sixteenthe daye of January, I tell you playne, 
The five and twentieth yere of Elizabeth rayne." 



This is from a tombstone in a cemetery near 
Silver Lake, Washington County, N. Y. : 
• " Elizabeth McFadden, 
Wife of David P. Reid, 
Died Feb. 28, 1859, 
in her 47th year. 
She never done a thing to 
displeas her Husband." 



EPITAPHS. yy 



The following singular inscription is from a 
tombstone in one of the central counties of 
England: "Reader, 

you would behold inscribed on this stone the 

character of 

a learned, skillful, and tender-hearted physician ; 

a warm friend 

a devout Christian ; 

had not the person here deposited 

by his last testament forbidden 

anything more to be said of him than, 

Here lieth 1 

who died on the loth of Feb., 
in the year of our Lord, 

1757; 
of his age, 

67." 



At St. Giles', Cripplegate, is the following, 

on 

" Gervase Aire. 

Under this marble fair, 

Lies the body entomb'd of Gervase Aire : 

He Dyd not of an ague fit, 

Nor surfeited by too much wit. 

Methinks this was a wondrous death, 

That Aire should die for want of breath." 



78 EPITAPHS. 



From a work on tc Monuments and Monu- 
mental Inscriptions in Scotland," just published 
by the Rev. Dr. Rogers, historiographer to the 
Historical Society of Great Britain, we quote a 
few quaint inscriptions. 

At Ancrum Moor, a monument commemo- 
rates "Maiden Lilliard," a young Scotchwoman 
who, at the battle of Ancrum (1545), distin- 
guished herself by her extraordinary valor. The 
Epitaph proceeds thus : 
"Fair Maiden Lilliard lies under this stane; 
Little was her stature, but great was her fame ; 
Upon the English loons she laid mony thumps; 
And when her legs were cuttit afT she fought upon 
her stumps." 



The following lines commemorate the wife 
of David Stewart, shoe-maker, who died April 
11, 1803: 

" For twenty years and eight I lived a maiden's life, 
And five-and-thirty years I was a married wife ; 
And in that space of time eight children I did bear — 
Four sons, four daughters, who ever lov'd most dear 
Three of that number, as the Scriptures run, 
Preach up the way to heaven, and hell to shun." 



EPITAPHS 



79 



In the parish of Fenwick, is a stone to the 
memory of James White, who was shot to 
death by Peter Inglis and party in 1685 : 

l< This martyr was by Peter Inglis shot, 

By birth a tyger rather than a Scot, 

Who that his monstrous extract might be seen, 

Cut off his head and kickt it o'er the green. 

Thus was that head which was to wear a crown 

A foot-ball made by a profane dragoon." 



This in remembrance of a clock-maker: 
" Here lyes a man who all his mortal life 
Past mending clocks, but cou'dna mend his wyfe; 
The larum o' hys bell was ne'er sae shrill 
As was her tongue, aye clacking like a mill. 
But now he's gane — oh, whither nane can tell — 
I hope beyond the soun' o' Matty's bell." 



A headstone erected to the memory of rather 
a wicked youth, whose death was caused by 
being thrown from a horse, bears these lines : 
" My friend, judge not me, 
Thou see'st I judge not thee : 

Betwixt the stirrup and the ground, 
I mercy sought and mercy found." 



8o EPITAPHS. 



The six next following, it is said, were actu- 
ally copied from tombstones in a Massachusetts 
Churchyard : 

"John T , Schoolmaster. 

May he be punished as often as he punished us. 

He was a hard old shell. 

He said the Lord's Prayer every morning. 

May the Lord forgive him, as often as he forgave us, 

That was never. 

We his scholars rear this stone over his ashes, 

Though they are not worth it. 

We are glad his reign is over, 

Amen." 



" This to the memory of Ellen Hill, 

A woman who would always have her will. 

She snubbed her husband, though she made good 

bread, 
And on the whole he's rather glad she's dead. 
She whipped her children (and she drank her gin), 
Whipped virtue out, and whipped the devil in, 
Ma/ all such women go to some great fold 
Where they through all eternity can scold." 



" Ebenezer Dockwood, aged forty-seven, 

A miser and a hypocrite, never went to heaven." 



EPITAPHS. 



"To the memory of Captain Barber, a staunch 
patriot, who fought and bled for his country, who 
was foremost in all the stormy deeds of his nation's 
history. Known to be a liberal man ! but he was a 
glutton and a wine-bibber ! drove his only son to sea 
and to ruin ; killed his wife by his misdeeds, and died 
drunk in in his fifty-first year." 



'■■' Fair as the rose, when first it smiles, 
On the green earth — her pretty wiles, 
In childhood shadowed gentlest worth, 
But oh how false all things of earth. 
Sleep on nor wake, we pray you, Anne, 
Your guile has ended many a man. 
Coquette you lived, and flirt you died, 
Death made you his unwilling bride." 



" To the memory of Mary Gold, 
Who was gold in nothing but her name. 
She was a tolerable woman for an acquaintance 
But O. H. himself couldn't live with her. 

Her temper was furious, 

Her tongue was vindictive, 
She resented a look and frowned at a smile, 

And was as sour as vinegar. 
She punished the earth upwards of forty years, 

To say nothing of her relations." 



82 EPITAPHS. 

• On the tombstone of a young lady who died 
in Lebanon, Conn., far from her home: 

"As a stranger she did die, 
In strange lands she doth lie 
Here by strangers she was laid, 
And her funeral charges paid." 



The following lines are from a Churchyard 
in Wales : 

" Under this stone lies Meredith Morgan, 
Who blew the bellows of our church organ ; 
Tobacco he hated, to smoke most unwilling, 
Yet never so pleased as when pipes he was filling; 
No reflection on him for rude speech could be cast, 
Though he made our old organ give many a blast ; 
No puffer was he, though a capital blower, 
He could fill double G, and now lies a note lower." 



An old tombstone — nearly two hundred 
years old — at Damariscotta, Maine, has these 

lines : 

" Now Dad is dead and gone, 
Dad left me here alone j 
But hope in Christ I have, 
That he and I will save." 



EPITAPHS. S? 



An Epitaph over the grave of Jacob Weiser, 
at St. Paul's, London, who died in 1785, thus 
reads : 

" Farewell vain world, [ know enough of thee, 
And now I'm careless what you say of me, 
Your smiles I court not, nor your frowns I fear, 
My cares are past, my head lies quiet here, 
What faults you saw in me, take care and shun, 
And look at home, enough there's to be done." 



The following are from tombstones in New 
London County, Conn., commemorating sold- 
iers who fell at Fort Griswold, in 1781 : 

" In Memory of M r Simeon 

Morgan who died Sep 1 " 6th 

1781 in fort Griswould by trai 

tor arnolds murdering Corps 

in y e 27 th year of his Age. 

This Blooming youth in 
Sweets of life, his God 
doth Call while Cannon 
roar, a winged dart 
doth sease his breath 
& takes him from 
this Golden Shore." 



84 EPITAPHS. 



" In Memory of 

Lieut Joseph Lewis who 

died Sept r 6th 1781 in fourt 

Griswould by traitor Arnolds 

murdering Corps in y e 41st 

year of his Age. 

This gallant man when God 
Doth call doth give his life 
in freedom's cause ; a sudden 
dart doth wing away that 
precious life that dwells 
in Clay." 



"In Memory of M r 

Asia Perkins who 

was slain in fort Griswould 

Sept r 6th 1781 iny e 33rd 

year of his Age. 

Ye British tyrants 
that have Power 
And butchers wet 
With Human Gore 
Judgement must come 
And you will be 
Rewarded for your 
Cruelty." 



EPITAPHS. 85 



"In Memory of M r 

Elisha Perkins who 

fell a Sacrifice for his 

Countrys Cause in that 

horrible massacre at fort 

Griswould Sep* 6th 

1781 in y e 38 year 

of his Age. 

Kingdoms and States 

Degenerates 
Keep grace forever nigh 
My blood hath stained the 

british fame 
for their humanity." 



"In Memory of M r 

Thomas Minard he 

fell a victom [to] Death 

the 6th of Sept 1781 

in y e 30 year of 

his Age. 

My blood was spilt upon 
the Earth, resigned my 
breath, By relentless 
inhuman foes I fell 
a Sacrifice to Death." 



86 EPITAPHS 



"In Memory of M r 
Luke Perkins who 

was slain at fort 

Griswould Sep* 6th 

1781 in y e 29th year 

of his Age. 

Ye sons of Liberty 
be not Dismayd 
That I have fell 
a Sacrifice to Death 
But oh to think how 
will their debt be paid 
Who murther d me 
when they are call d 
from Earth." 



"In Memory of M r 

Benadam Allyn who died 

Sep 6th 1781 In fort Griswould 

by traitor arnolds murdering 
Corps in y e 20th year of his Age. 

To future ages this shall 
Tell This brave youth 
in fort griswould fell 
For amaricas Liberty 
He fought & Blead 
Alas he die d ." 



EPITAPHS. 87 



" In Memory of Belton 

Allyn son of Dea n Jofeph 

Allyn who fell in fort 

Griswould by traitor Ar 

nolds corps Sep r 6 1781 

in y e 17th year of his Age. 

By Cruel rage of British 
man this body es brought 
to dust again But we 
through faith do hope 
this dust will rife 
in triumph with y e Just." 



"In Memory of Cap* Si 

meon Allyn who Died 

Sep r 6 1781 in fort 

Griswould with his Lieu* 

Ens 11 and 13 soldiers by trai 

ter arnolds murdering Corps 

in y e 37th year of his Age. 

By Gods decree my bounds 
ware fixt the time y s 
place though much confus d 
the cause was good y e 
means was vile. Snatch d 
me from Charms of 
Golden Life." 



EPITAPHS. 



" Here lies y e body of 
M r Eldredge Chester son of M r Thomas 
Chester who was wound- 
ed in fort Griswold Sep* 
6th 1781 and died of his wounds dec 31st in 
y e 24th year of his Age. 



Relentless was my foe, Death's weapons through 
me went, Fell by y e Fatal blow, Lingered 
till life was Spent " 



" In Memory of 

M r Elnathan Perkins 

who was slain at Fort 

Griswould Sep 6th 1781 

in the 64 year 

of his Age. 

Ye British Power that boasts aloud 

of your Great Lenity 
Behold my fate when at your feet 

I and three Sons must Die." 



" In Memory of 

M E Nicholas Starr. 

who was slain in Fort 

Griswould Sep tr 6 1781 

in his 40th year. 



EPITAPHS. 89 



O thou inveterate Foe 
what is it thou hast done 
thou struck the fatal blow 
no mercy could be shown." 



" In Memory of 
M B Henery Woodbridge 

who was slain in Fort 

Griswould Sep* 6th 1781 

in the 33d year 

of his Age. 

Will not a day of reckoning come 
does not my blood for vengeance cry 
how will those wretches bear their doo' 
who hast me Slain most Murderously, 



" In Memory of 

M B RUFUS HURLBUT 

Who fell in the bloody 

committed by Benedict Arnold's troops 

Massacre A at Fort Griswold 

Sept ber the 6th 1781 in the 40th 

year of his Age. 

Reader confider how I fell 

For Liberty I blead 

Oh then repent ye Sons of hell 

For the innocent blood you shead.' 



r 




90 EPITAPHS. 


At Bristol, Conn. : 




" Five hundred mile 


3 out to the west 


'Tis there my body 


lies at rest, 


Hoping when the Lord shall come, 


To meet my friends 


who die at home." 


An Epitaph found in 


a country Churchyard : 


"Bene 


VI. 


AT.HT : his : S.T. 


Seab ate yo 


Oneli Eska 


' VRG 


Thari Neg Rayc 


Rie. Fan 


Hang'd 


DD 


F. R. 


Ryy O ! V . . . Rey 


O ! mab. V. Syli Fetol 


Esf. OR WH 


If. tie 


ATA 


SS CL 


Vai L Safto 


Ayb. ye ar. 


O ! Doft Ears. W. 


Than 


Hok no : Wsb. 


Del— Ays 


Vt Ina Runo 


Hego 


Fy Ears 


Therp. Elfa 


In. So ... . Metail : 


N D 


Pit .... C. 


No. ws he 'btur 


Hero . . R . . broa 


N'D TOe ART 


DP. 


Hh. Frsel Fy 


Ans. He . . I 


E w e e . . . Pin 


N. H. 


Gfr. I . . EN 


Ers Hopma 


D.S. L. 


Y. B. 


Et mea D 


E. Aga . . . . IN. 



EPITAPHS. 91 



Explanation. 

Beneath this stone lies Katharine Gray, 
Chang'd from a busy life to lifeless clay 
By earth and clay she got her pelf, 
And now she's turned to earth herself. 
Ye weeping friends — let me advise — 
Abate your grief, and dry your eyes; 
For what avails a flood of tears ? 
Who knows, but, in a run of years, 
In some tall pitcher or broad pan 
She in her shop may be again." 



The following, which is suggestive to coffee 
drinkers, is from a tombstone in Connecticut : 
" Here lies cut down like unripe fruit, 
The wife of Deacon Amos Shute ; 
She died of drinking too much cofTee, 
Anny Dominy eighteen forty." 



In Westminster Abbey, London, over poet 
Gay : 

" Life is a jest and all things 

show it ; 
I thought so once but now 

I know it " 



92 EPITAPHS. 



Lord Rochester wrote the following Epitaph 
for Charles the Second : 

" Here lies our sovereign lord and king, 

Whose word no man relied on, 
Who never said a foolish thing 
And never did a wise one." 



A Highland Epitaph reads thus : 
" Here lies interred a man of micht, 

His name is Malcom Downie, 
He lost his life one market night, 
By falling off his pownie." 



At Northampton, England, a tombstone has 
this stanza : 

" Here lies the corpse of Susan Lee, 

Who died of heartfelt pain, 
Because she loved a faithless he, 
Who loved her not again." 



" Behold me here young splendid youth 
The tale I tell is all the truth 
Though you are young and may die soon 
My morning sun did set at noon." 



EPITAPHS. 93 



A disconsolate husband caused the follow- 
ing to be placed upon the tombstone of his 
deceased wife : 

•' I've lost the comfort of my life 
Death came and took away my wife, 
And now I don't know what to do 
Lest death should come & take me too." 



A noted pyrotechnist died a few years ago 
who, in the course of his travels, had been 
impressed by an inscription on the tombstone 
of the great musical composer, Purcell, which 
read as follows : 

" He is gone where alone his 

melodies can be exceeded." 

Fired by an ambition to stand highest in his 
own profession in this world, he requested that 
on his tombstone might be written . 
" He is gone where alone his 
fireworks can be exceeded." 



Samuel Beasley, the architect and dramatist, 
wrote his own Epitaph in these words : 
" Here lies Samuel Beasley, 
Who lived hard and died easily." 



94 EPITAPHS. 



Job Orton, son of the inventor of Stilton 
cheese, an innkeeper at Kidderminster, put up 
a tombstone in the Churchyard there, inscribed: 
"Job Orton, a man from Leicestershire, 
When he dies he will be buried here." 

He was a queer character altogether. While 
his wife yet lived to plague him, he wrote her 
Epitaph : 

" Esther Orton, a bitter sour weed, 

God never loved her nor increased her seed." 



B- 



Left Sunbury 

And started for Paradise 

June 25th 18 — ." 



"To the memory of Doctor Polycarp Cushman, 
who died 15th December, A. D. 1797, ^Etate 47. 
Vain censorious beings little know 
What they must soon experience here below. 
Your lives are short, eternity is long, 
O think of death, prepare & then be gone. 
Thus art and nature's power and charms, 
And drugs, receipts and forms 
Yield all at last to greedy worms 
A despicable prey." 



EPITAPHS. 95 



On a tombstone at Chigwell, England : 
ei This disease, you ne'er heard tell on — 
I died of eating too much mellon ; 
Be careful, then all you that feed — I 
Suffered because I was too greedy." 



On Long Island, in Belfast Bay, Maine, a 
gravestone bears the following stanzas : 
"Farewell ! my dear husband saith she, 
Now from your kind bosom I leap — 
To Jesus my Bridegroom to be — 
My flesh in the tomb shall soon sleep. 

Now like a disconsolate dove 

I'm left all alone for to mourn 

Oh ! may the kind Saviour above, 

Show pity to me while alone." 
It is several years since the above was copied, 
and it is not known how long the " dove " 
remained alone. 



At Fairfax, Vt., over the remains of a young 
man accidentally shot : 

" O fatal gun, why was it him 

That you should kill so dead ? 
Why did'nt you go off a little higher 
And fire above his head ?" 



96 EPITAPHS 



In Luton Churchyard, Bedfordshire, Eng., 
a tombstone has the following: 

" Reader ! I have left a world 
In which I had much to do, 
Sweating and fretting to get rich, 
Just such a fool as you." 



" I was well 
Wished to be better 
Took physic 
Here I am." 



At Sterling, Miss., is a gravestone with the 
following : 

" As she on her bed of sickness lay, 
Her friends stood weeping round, 
She not a word to them could say, 
No medicine could they get down." 



" Beneath the gravel and these stones, 
Lies poor Jack Tiffey's skin and bones ; 

His flesh, I oft have heard him say, 

He hoped in time would make good hay; 

Quoth I, ■ How could that come to pass V 
And he replied, — 'All flesh is grass !' " 



EPITAPHS 



97 



On Dr. Stafford, a remarkably fat man : 
" Take heed, O good traveller, and do not tread hard, 
For here lies Dr. Stafford in all this churchyard." 



The following Epitaph, from the Church- 
yard at North Shields, England, has been the 
subject of much laughter on account of its 
absurdity : 

" In memory of James Bell, of North Shields, who 
died 16th Jan., 1763, aged 42 years. Margaret, 
widow of the above said James Bell, died Dec. 30, 
aged 49 years. She was wife, after, to Wm. Fenwick 
of North Shields." 

Under the above, the following lines had been 
written in pencil : 

"As in the Scriptures it is said 

No marriages in heaven are made, 

It seems that Margaret's ghost did go 

To Pluto's dreary realms below, 

Where she, poor soul, not long had tarried, 

Till her friend Will and her got married." 



Epitaph on a blind wood sawyer : 
" While none ever saw him see 
thousands have seen him saw," 



EPITAPHS. 



The four next following are from tomb- 
stones in Saratoga, N. Y., and vicinity : 
" Here lies the wife of Robert Ricular 
Who walked the way of God perpendicular." 



" Gone to yon heavenly dome, 
From sin and sorrow free, 
How desolate our home 
Since 'tis bereft of thee Sarah." 



" Farewell dear wife my life is past, 
I loved you whilst my life did last. 

Weep not for me nor sorrow take, 
But love my brother for my sake." 



" She was a sister true and kind 
While with us she could stay 

God blest her with a loving mind 
And then took her away." 



This is from East Woodstock, Conn. 
" Dear babe weal weap for the no more, 
For thou art now forever blest 
The bitter pangs of death is ore 
And Jesus smiles to see the rest." 



EPITAPHS. 99 



Another old stone, with the name of Jacob 
Vedar, has this couplet : 
" Here lies my father Dan 
Who left three children to do the best they can." 



A stone, with a cut of an engine, has the 
following lines commemorating the death of an 
engineer, — caused by the explosion of his 
engine : 

" My engine now lies cold and still, 

No water does her boiler fill; 

Wood affords it flame no more, 

My days of usefulness are o'er." 



" Here lie two babies, side by side : 
Of the small-pox both of them died. 
Their ages were sev£72 and nine — 
Prepare to meet your God in time." 



The following is on the tombstone of a 
young man who was killed by lightning, — in 
Dover, Maine : 

" The storm did rage, the wind did blow — 
One flash of lightning laid him low — 
His brother come, but oh ! no sound — 
Dead on the spot there he was found." 

LofC. 



oo EPITAPHS. 



The following is an inscription on a grave 
stone in the Willow Brook cemetery in East 
Hartford. We presume Serg't Barker was not 
so much "captivated" by the British as the 
tombstone represents : 

" In Memory of Serg't Herman Barker, Jr., of 

Tolland — he was captivated by the British troops 
Sept. 15th, 1776, — Son to Mr. Herman Barker and 
Lois his Wife — he Died on his way home with the 
small-pox Jan. 21st, 1777, in the 29th year of his 
Age." 

Elihu Yale, the founder of Yale College, 
New Haven, Conn., was buried at Wrexham, 
Wales. His monument bears this inscription : 

" Under this tomb lyes interr'd Elihu Yale of Place 
Gronow, Esq. born 5th April 1648 and dyed the 8th 
of July, 1721, aged 73 years. 

Born in America, in Europe bred, 

In Afric travelled, and in Asia wed, 

Where long he liv'd and thriv'd, in London died, 

Much good, some ill, he did ; so hope all's even, 

And that his soul thro' mercy's gone to heaven. 

You that survive and read, take care 

For this most certain exit to prepare, 

Where, blest in peace, the actions of the just 

Smell sweet and blossom in the silent dust." 



EPITAPHS. 101 



In Lydford Churchyard, near Dartmoor : 

" Here lies, in horizontal position, 

the outside Case of 

George Routleigh, Watchmaker ; 

Integrity was the Mainspring, and prudence the 

Regulator, 

of all the actions of his life. 

Humane, generous, and liberal, 

his Hand never stopped, 

till he had relieved distress. 

So nicely regulated were all his Motions, 

that he never went wrong, 

except when set a-going 

by people 

who did not know his Key : 

Even then he was easily 

set right again. 

He had the art of disposing his time so well, 

that his Hours kept running on 

in a continual round of pleasure, 

till an unlucky Minute put a stop to 

his existence. 

He departed this life Nov. 14, 1802, zet. 57, 

in hopes of being taken in hand 

by his Maker ; 

and of being thoroughly Cleaned, Repaired, 

Wound up, and Set a-going 

in the world to come." 



102 EPITAPHS. 



From Thetford Churchyard, England : 
w My grandfather was buried here, 
My cousin Jane, and two uncles dear ; 
My father perished with inflammation in the thighs, 
And my sister dropped down dead in the Minories : 
But the reason why I'm here interred, according to 

my thinking, 
Is owing to my good living and hard drinking. 
If) therefore, good Christians, you wish to live long, 
Don't drink too much wine, brandy, gin, or anything 

strong." 

At Lauder, England: 

"Alexander Thompson. 
" Here lyes inter'd an honest man, 
Who did this churchyard first lie in ; 
This monument shall make it known 
That he was the first laid in this ground. 
Of mason and of masonrie 
He cutted stones right curiously. 
To heaven we hope that he is gone, 
Where Christ is the chief corner stone." 



In St. Mary's Church, Nottingham : 
" Luke xx. 36. 
Sleep on in peace; await thy Maker's will; 
Then rise unchanged, and be an angel still. " 



EPITAPHS. 103 



The following warning and advisory lines 
are on the tombstone of a quack doctor : 
" I was a quack and there are men who say 
That in my time I physick'd lives away ; 
And that at length I by myself was slain 
By my own drugs ta'en to relieve my pain. 
The truth is, being troubled with a cough, 
I like a fool consulted Dr. Gough ; 
Who physick'd me to death, at his own will, 
Because he's licensed by the state to kill : 
Had I but wisely taken my own physic 
I never should have died of cold and 'tisick. 
So all be warned, and when you catch a cold 
Go to my son, by whom my medicine's sold." 



At Richmond, Yorkshire: 

" Here lies the body of William Wix, 

One Thousand, Seven Hundred and Sixtv-Six." 



From Litchfield, Conn., the following : 
" Here lies the body of Mrs. Mary, wife of Dea- 
con John Buel, Esq. She died Nov. 4, 1768, aged 
90, — having had 13 Children, 101 Grand-Children, 
247 Great-Grand-Children, and 49 Great-Great- 
Grand-Children; total 410. Three Hundred and 
Thirty Six survived her." 



104 EPITAPHS. 



From Solyhull Churchyard, Warwickshire. 
The following Epitaph was written by a certain 
Rev. Dr. Greenwood on his wife, who died in 
childbirth. One hardly knows which to admire 
most, — the merit oi the couplet wherein he 
celebrates her courage and magnanimity in pre- 
ferring him to a lord or judge, or the sound 
advice with which he closes : 

" Go, cruel Death, thou hast cut down 
The fairest Greenwood in all this kingdom ! 
Her virtues and good qualities were such 
That surely she deserved a lord or judge; 
But her piety and humility 
Pvlade her prefer me, a Doctor in Divinity; 
Which heroic action, joined to all the rest, 
Made her to be esteemed the Phoenix of her sex; 
And like that bird, a young she did create 
To comfort those her loss had made disconsolate. 
My grief for her was so sore 
That I can only utter two lines more : 
For this and all other good women's sake, 
Never let blisters be applied to a lying-in woman's 
back." 



At Norwich Cathedral : 

" Sarah York this life did resigne 
On May the 13 th, '79." 



EPITAPHS. 105 



Epitaph of a resigned and submissive hus- 
band on his second wife : 

" Here lies wife second of old Wing Rogers 
She's safe from care and I from bothers ! 
If death had known thee as well as I, 
He ne'er had stopped but passed thee by. 
I wish him joy, but much I fear 
He'll rue the day he came thee near." 



At Quincy, Mass. (1708) : 
" Braintree, thy prophet's gone ; this tomb inters 
The Rev. Moses Fiske his sacred herse. 
Adore heaven's praiseful art, that formed the man, 
Who souls, not to himself, but Christ oft won ; 
Sailed through the straits with Peter's family 
Renowned, and Gams' hospitality, 
Paul's patience, James's prudence, John's sweet love, 
Is landed, entered, cleared, and crowned above." 



A tombstone in Milford, Connecticut, has 
the following stanza on a young lady who died 
in 1792, aged 24: 

" Molly, tho' pleasant in her day, 
Was sudd'nly seized and sent away. 
How soon she's ripe, how soon she's rotten. 
Laid in the grave and soon forgotten." 



lo6 EPITAPHS. 



On the tombstone of Edward Cook, M. D , 
at St. Bartholomew the Great, are the follow- 
ing lines : 

" Unsluice your briny flood; what, can you keep 
Your eyes from tears and see the marble weep ? 
Burst out, for shame ; or, if you find no vent 
For tears, yet stay, and see the stones relent." 



On John Adams, of Southwell, a carrier, 
who died of drunkenness : 

"John Adams lies here, of the parish of Southwell, 
A carrier who carried his can to his mouth well; 
He carried so much, and he carried so fast, 
He could carry no more, so was carried at last; 
For the liquor he drunk, being too much for one, 
He could not carry off — so he's now carri-on! 



The following inscription, on two Danish 
soldiers, is on an oval stone monument against 
the south wall ot St. Mary's Church, Beverley, 
under two swords crossed : 

" Here two young Danish souldiers lie. 
The one in quarrell chane'd to die; 
The other's head, by their own law, 
With sword was sever'd at one blow, 
December the 23rd. 1689." 



EPITAPHS. 107 



In Rudgwick Churchyard, England : 
"Edward Haynes, M. D., ob. 1708: 
Here lies the body of Cranley, Doctor Edward Haynes, 
Who for to maintain his family spar'd not for pains; 
To ride and to run, to give relief, 
To those that were in pain, in grief. 
He, the 30th of April, enter'd Death's strait gate, 
In the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred 

and eight. 
He left behind him when he left this life 
Two likely sons and a loving wife ; 
And, about 36 weeks after, 

His wife and relict was brought to bed with a dafter; 
Which three we desire may live, 
Not to beg, but to give. 
His eldest son Edward, about six years and ten months 

old, 
His youngest son, John, three, both dapper and bold. 
Like to most mortals, to his business he was a slave, 
Catched the small-pox and died, and lies here in his 
his grave." 

At Selby, Yorkshire (1706), England : 
" Here lies the body of poor Frank Row, 
Parish clerk, and grave stone cutter. 
And this is writ to let you know, 
What Frank for others us'd to do, 
Is now for Frank done by another." 



io8 EPITAPHS 



The writer of the following Epitaph had an 
eye to business : 

" Beneath this stone in hopes of Zion, 
There lies the landlord of the Lion. 
Resigned unto the heavenly will, 
His son keeps on the business still." 



On the tomb of Edward Courtenay, third 
Earl of Devon, in Tiverton Churchyard, is the 
following Epitaph. The Earl died in 1419 : 

" Hoe ! hoe ! who lies here ? 

I, the good Erie of Devonshire; 

With Maud, my wife, to mee full dere, 

We lyved togeather fyfty-fyvc .yere. 

What wee gave, wee have ; 

What wee spent, wee had ; 

What wee left, wee lost." 



At St. Cuthbert, Kildale, Yorkshire : 

"Joseph Dunn. 
" Here lyeth the body of Joseph Dunn, who dyed 
y e 10th day of March, 1716, aged 82 years. He left 
to y e poor of Kildale XX s., of Commondale XX s., 
of Danby XX s., of Westerdale Xs., to be paid upon 
his gravestone by equal portions, on y e 1st day of 
May, and y e 11th of November forever." 



EPITAPHS. 109 

On an old stone in London, in memory of a 
noted merchant named Lambe, the following 
lines occur : 

" O Lambe of God, who sin dost take away, 
And like a Lambe was offered up for sin, 
While I, poor Lambe, from out thy flock did stray, 
Yet thou, good Lord, vouchsafe thy Lambe to win 
Back to Thy fold, and hold thy Lambe therein. 
That all the days which Lambes and goats shall sever, 
Of thy choice Lambes, Lambe may be one forever." 



At Wrexham : 

" Here lies John Shore, 
I say no more; 
Who was alive 
In sixtv five." 



The following lines may be found in a ceme- 
tery in Connecticut : 

" 'Tis child and tomb who from the womb 
Reminds us of our death — 
All's vanity, for we must die 
And gone as in a breath — 
Glory to God, the Lord of Hosts, 
By Quakers, Friends and Holy Ghosts, 
Let saints and angels all be blest, 
Our souls ascend and bodies rest." 



no EPITAPHS. 



At Newton, England : 

"Richard Blondevyle. Ob. 1490, ast. 85. 

Ralph Blondevyle. Ob. 1514, set. 45. 

Edward Blondevyle. Ob. 1568, set. 75. 
Here lyes in Grave, nowe thre tymes done, 
The Grandsire, Father, and the Sone, 
Theyr Names, theyr Age, and when they dyed. 
Above theyr Headds is specyfyed, 
Theyr Sheyld of Arms, doth eke declare, 
The Stocke with whom they marched were, 
They lyved well, and died as well, 
And nowe with God in Heaven they dwell, 
And thear do prayse hys holy Name. 
God grant that we may dc the same." 



The following touching Epitaph is from a 
Churchyard in Pennsylvania, commemorating 
alike the grief of the widow and the gluttony 
of the deceased : 

" Eliza, sorrowing, rears this marble slab 
To her dear John, who died of eating crab." 



At Norwich Cathedral : 

" Here lies the body of honest Tom Page, 
Who died in the 33d year of his age." 



EPITAPHS. Ill 



In Dartmouth Churchyard, England, is the 
following, bearing date 17 14: 

" Thomas Goldsmith, 
Commander of the Snap-dragon, a privateer, in the 

reigne of Queen Anne. In which vessel he turned 

pyrate, and amassed much riches. 

Men that are virtuous fear the lord 
And the devil's by his friends adored; 
And as they merit, get a place, 
Amidst the blest, or hellish race : 
Prey then, ye learned clergy show 
Where can this brute, Tom Goldsmith, go ; 
Whose life was one continued evil, 
Striving to cheat God, man, and devil." 



On the tombstone of one Palmer, in a Kent- 
ish Churchyard, England, are the following 
lines : 

" Palmers all our fathers were; 

I, a Palmer lived here, 

And traveyled sore, till worn with age, 

I ended this world's pilgrimage, 

On the blest Ascension Day 

In the cheerful month of May, 

One thousand with three hundred seven, 

And took my journey hence to Heaven." 



112 EPITAPHS 



At Stepney (1683) : 

" Whoever treadeth on this stone, 
I pray you tread most neatly ; 

For underneath the same doth lie 
Your honest friend, Will Wheatly." 



William Shakespeare died April 23, 1616, 
set. 52, and was buried in the chancel of the 
church at Stratford. The monument erected to 
his memory represents the poet with a thought- 
ful countenance, resting on a cushion and in 
the act of writing. On a tablet underneath 
are inscribed these lines : 
" Stay, passenger : why dost thou go so fast ? 
Read, if thou canst, whom envious death hath placed 
Within this monument, — Shakespeare ; with whom 
Quick Nature died ; whose name doth deck the tomb 
Far more than cost ; since all that he hath writ 
Leaves living Art but page to serve his wit: " 

and on the flat stone covering the grave, is 
inscribed, in very irregular characters, the follow- 
ing quaint supplication, blessing, and menace : 
" Good Friend, for Jesvs sake forbeare 
To digg t-e dvst EncloAsed HERE ; 
Blest be t-e Man * spares T-hs stones, 
And cvrst be He \ moves my bones." 



EPITAPHS. 113 



We cannot give the location of the two fol- 
lowing, but they are said to be authentic : 
" Sister, mother, aunt and me 
"Were run over. Here we be. 
We should have had no time to missle, 
Had they blown the engine's whistle." 



" Weep, stranger, for a father spilled 
From a stage coach, and thereby killed. 
His name, J. Sykes, a maker of sassengers, 
Slain with three other outside passengers." 



In Lavenham Church, Norfolk; ob. 1534: 
" Continuall prayse these lynes in brass 
Of Allaine Dister here, 
A Clothier vertuous whyle he was 
In Lavenham many a yeare; 
For as in lyfe he loved best 
The poore to clothe and feede, 
Soe with the riche and alle the reste 
He neighbourlie agreed ; 
And did appoint before he died, 
A spiali* yearlie rent, 
Which should be every Whitsontide 
Amonge the poorest spent." 

1 Special. 



il 4 EPITAPHS 



A tombstone in St. Alphage Churchyard, 
Canterbury, England, bearing the name of 
"Agnes Halke who died A. D. 1502," has this 
stanza : 

" In this churchyard was so her chance, 
First after the hallowing of the same, 
Afore all others to begin the dance, 
Which to all others is the loth game." 

Agnes Halke, it appears, was the first person 
interred in St. Alphage Churchyard, and so, in a 
figurative sense, she led the "Dance of Death," 
which to all is the " loth " game. 



At St. Paul's, Bedford : 

" Patience, wife of Shadrach Johnson. 
The mother of 24 children and died in childbedj 
June 6, 1717, aged 38 years. 

Shadrach I Shadrach ! 

The Lord granted unto thee 

Patience, 

Who laboured long and patiently 

In her vocation ; 

But her patience being exhausted 

She departed in the midst of her labour 

iEtat. 38. 

May she rest from her labours ! " 



EPITAPHS. 115 



In the church of Ightham, near Seven Oaks, 
Kent, is a mural monument, with the bust of a 
lady who was famous for her needlework, and 
was traditionally reported to have written the 
letter to Lord Monteagle which resulted in the 
discovery of the Gunpowder Plot. The fol- 
lowing is the inscription : 

"D. D. D. 

To the pretious name and honour of Dame Dorothy 

Selby, Relict of 
Sir William Selby, Kt. the only daughter and heire 

of Charles Bonham, Esq. 

She was a Dorcas, 
Whose curious needle wound the abused stage 
Of this Jeud world into the golden age ; 
Whose pen of steel and silken inck enrolled 
The acts of Jonah in records of gold ; 
Whose arte disclosed that plot, which had it taken, 
Rome had triumphed, and Britain's walls had shaken. 

She was 
In heart a Lydia, and in tongue a Hanna ; 
In zeale a Ruth, in wedlock a Susanna ; 
Prudently simple, providently wary, 
To the world a Martha, and to heaven a Mary. 
Who put on ( in the year ) Pilgrimage, 69. 



•;{ 



immortality \ of her ) Redeemer, 1614 



1 16 EPITAPHS 



A correspondent of the "New York Mail" 
thus writes from Margate, England : 

" Strolling through the grassy c God's acre ' 
outside of the church, my eye caught the simple 
headstone which one hundred and twenty years 
ago was erected to the memory of Richard Joy, 
'the strong man of Kent,' who, in the year 
1699, exhibited his muscular powers before 
William of Orange and the English court, and 
whose achievements included the breaking of a 
rope capable of resisting a strain of 35 cwt., 
and the lifting a load weighing upwards of a 
ton. The following is the inscription on the 

gravestone : (V> T 

& Richard Joy, 

Died 18 th May, 1842. 
Aged 67. 
Herculean hero ! fam'd for strength, 
At last lies here his Breadth and Length ; 
See how the Mighty Man is fall'n, 
To Death ye Strong and Weak are all one, 
And the same Judgment doth befall 
Goliah Great as David Small.' 
It is said that this English Samson, after 
ceasing to exhibit his physical powers, engaged 
in maritime pursuits. These 'maritime pur- 
suits' included smuggling; and in attempting to 
baffle the revenue officers he was drowned." 



EPITAPHS. 


117 


The following is from a tombstone in an old . 


graveyard of a western city : 




" My son, thou hast gone to sleep 
In the far distant West. 




Thy friends, they do for you weep 
Who reside at the East." 


England, 


At Farnaw, near Naworth Castle, ] 


a tombstone bears these lines : 




'John Bell broken-brow 




Lies under this stean ; 




Foure of mine een sonnes 




Laid it on my wean. 




I was a man of my meate, 




Master of my wife ; 




I lived on my own land 




Without micle strife." 


"Apple- 


The following, which we take from 
ton's "Journal" will explain itself: 


"TO THE EDITOR OF APPLETON'S JOURNAL: 




Some forty years ago I spent some 
in the then small town of Brooklyn. 


months 
To help 


pass away the time, I, with a few 
occasionally visited Duflon's Military 


friends, 
Garden, 


situated at the turn of Fulton street, v\ 


'here we 



ii8 EPITAPHS. 



amused ourselves in rolling ninepins. Imme- 
diately in the rear of the alley was an old, 
dilapidated burying -ground, in which, while 
waiting my turn to play, I sometimes strolled 
and amused myself in reading the epitaphs. 
There was one large gravestone fallen from its 
high estate and cracked, on which was an 
epitaph so remarkable that I copied it verba- 
tim, literatim, et punctuatim. Feeling somewhat 
curious about its origin, I made inquiry of an 
old resident of the town, and learned from him 
that, about the date given in the epitaph, there 
made his appearance in Brooklyn a German 
who called himself the 'Rainwater Doctor/ 
and professed with that fluid alone to cure all 
the diseases which flesh is heir to. Under his 
care, some wonderful cures were performed, and 
his reputation spread abroad in the surrounding 
country, so that the roads were crowded with 
people in carriages, on horseback, and foot, 
wending their way to Brooklyn, seeking relief 
at his hands. He would not receive any pay 
ior his services. The person whose epitaph I 
have copied was the first that died under the 
doctor's care ; and, so distressed was the doctor 
at the event, that he buried the defunct and 



EPITAPHS. 119 



erected the tombstone at his own expense, and 
himself wrote the epitaph. The doctor was a 
German, and probably did not very well under- 
stand the English language, and composed the 
epitaph in German ; and, with the aid of a 
dictionary, translated it literally into English. 

I was in Brooklyn not long since, and, 
although I hunted for, could not find anything 
of the old graveyard, nor of the gravestone. I 
think such a curious production as this epitaph 
should be preserved, and know no better way 
of doing so than by putting it in your very val- 
uable journal. I therefore send you the copy 
which I made at the first time I saw the 
epitaph, and hope you will hand it down to 
posterity, 

Very respectfully, Samuel Horton. 

THE EPITAPH. 

' In the mournful instances of human frailty con- 
cording to demonstrate the destiny ; also as a baneful 
occurrence of both, and of an unshaken resolution and 
usual disappointment : here lies the no more animated 
and wasting remains of Apollos Nickol, born in 
Smithtown, April 11, 1776, the 14th of the same 
month 1 8 1 1 departed and delivered up to the elemen- 
tary menstruum of dissolution, nought, Resurrection, 



i2o EPITAPHS. 



Ascension ; Conspicuous example of an unavoidable 
fate, who after his having been tired of experiencing 
eight months of various diseases in expectation to find 
alleviation to his painful existence started in quest of 
relief: and firm in his resolution notwithstanding an 
inconsiderable distance contended three weeks in the 
road against the progressive obstacles of his perilous 
situation. Losing his design, to reach a dwelling 
which, his delusive confidence had flattered himself to 
find alleviance, the end of his distress and complicated 
misery, but unfortunately found the one of his days 
accelerated by his bold attempt, and both his strangury 
dropsical state, and the strenuous motion of the last 
vehicle which conveyed him to the one by whom he 
eagerly expected to be alleviated and receive his 
existence prolongation, but vain hope ! soon aborted ! 
subject likewise to asthmatical affection by a sudden 
violent paroxism, effect of the combusted system 
stimulating the accumulated aqueous mass out of its 
recess, and which completely obstructing the airy 
passage speedily produced suffocation, and that fatally, 
this incident terminated the earthly career, in putting 
a period to the painful life of the suffering, venturing 
afflicted ; sorrowful consequences which insuperably 
has condemned the one he so considerably entrusted 
with his corporeal repair, to become of his disaster 
passive spectator, instead of a desirous benefactor; 
predetermined in the witness which initially and 



EPITAPHS. 121 



peremptorily was to sustain the view of such sinister 
catastrophe, the inexorable parthees manifected to only 
have afforded to their destined victim enough of vital 
faculty for reaching the spot whereupon the minute's 
residue of the last hour was to be exhausted, and for 
implacably having after the final thread was cut off: 
to memorize such a dismal event, the concern it has 
caused the unaccustomed beholder, may this cold 
stone relating the particulars be of a consolitory 
nature, for the surviving consort and relatives of the 
deceased and help them to be in their privation 
resigned^ to the unalterable supreme will, and with 
fortitude submit to the execution of its irrevocable 
decree.' " 



The following is taken from a tombstone at 
Port Kent, in the Adirondacks, New York : 

" Sally T lies here and that's enough, 

The candle's out and so's the snuff; 
Her soul's with God you need not fear, 
And what remains lies interred here." 



A tombstone in Texas has the following 
inscription : 

" He remained to the last a decided friend and 
supporter of Democratic principles and measures. 
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." 



122 EPITAPHS 



The following singular Epitaph is on a 
monument erected in 1735, at Wainfleet, Lin- 
colnshire, England : 

" Near this place 

lye the remains 

of Edward Barkham Esq. 

Who in his life time at his own expense 

Erected the stately altar piece in this church ; 

Furnished the communion table 

With a very rich crimson velvet carpet, 

a cushion of the same, & a beautiful Common 

Prayer-book ; 

Likewise with two large flagons, 

a chalice with a cover, together with a paten, 

All of silver plate. 

But above all (& what may very justly 

preserve his name to latest posterity) 

he gave and devised by will 

To the curate of Wainfleet St. Mary's and his 

successor for ever 

The sum of 35/. per ann. (over and above his former 

salary) 

with this clause, viz. 

'provided the said curate and his successors 

do and shall read prayers and preach 
once every Sunday in the year forever.' 



EPITAPHS. 123 



So extraordinary an instance of securing a veneration 

for the most awful part of our religion, 

And so rare and uncommon a zeal 

For promoting God's worship every Lord's Day 

(Divine service being performed aforetime only every 

other Sunday) 

Forget not reader to proclaim to the world 

that men in power and authority 

induced hereby to copy after so great an original, 

may strive to excel each other 

in doing likewise." 



This is from HoufF, England : 

" Robert Straitoun, apothecary, caused this monu- 
ment to be erected and cut for himself and his 
dearest wives, Jonet Duncan and Isobel Robertson. 
On righthand Duncan lies, in youth my spouse, 
And the first pillar of my rising house ; 
Lefthand liss V obson, a most faithful wife: 
Which was the best it may procure a strife. 
First brought to me of wealth sufficient store, 
Which th' other guided well, augmented more; 
First blessed me with many children fair, 
The second nurst them with maternal care ; 
Virtue and goodness in them equal shone, 
And both lie buryd underneath this stone." 



124 EPITAPHS. 

The following, which is certainly ^uite 
unique, is an accurate copy from a tombstone 

in Dover, N. H.: 

" Repository 

of 

Husband & Wife. 

Joseph Hartwell, Inanimate^ 

Apr. 7, 1867, JEt. 68 
Betsy Hartwell, Inanimated 
Dec. 7, 1862, JEt. 68 
The following embraces a period of 41 years. In 
all of our relations in life toward each other there has 
been naught but one continuation of fidelity and 
loving kindness. We have never participated or 
countenanced in others secretly or otherwise that 
which was calculated to subjugate the masses of the 
people to the dictation of the few. And now we 
will return to our Common Mother, with our Indi- 
vidualities in life unimpair'd, to pass through together 
the ordeal of earth's chemical Laboratory preparatory 
to recuperation. 

Her last exclamations. 
If you should be taken away, I could not survive 
you. How happy we have lived together. Oh how 
you will miss me — Think not Mr. Hartwell I like 
you the less for being in the position you are in. No 
it only strengthens my affections. To those who 
have made professions of friendship and have then 
falsified them by living acts, Pass on." 



EPITAPHS. 12 c 



In Roxbury, Conn., an old gravestone a few 
years ago had the following : 

" In Memory of 
Col. Seth Warner, esq., 
Who departed this life December 26th, A. D. 1784, 
In the forty-second year of his age. 
Triumphant leader at our armies' head, 
Whose martial glory struck a panic dread, 
Thy warlike deeds engraven on this stone, 
Tell future ages what a hero 's done, 
Full sixteen battles he did fight 
For to procure his country's right. 
Oh ! this brave hero, he did fall 
By death, who ever conquers all. 

When this you see remember me." 



The following is from a grave-yard in New- 
town, Penn. : 

" Here lies the body of William Evans, who 
departed this life, September the 29th, 1734, aged 
52 years. 

My : pilgrim : race : I : ran : a pace 
My : resting : place is here : 
This : stone : is : got : to : keep y e spot — 
That men dig not too near." 
It is to be hoped that the object aimed at in 
the erection of the above was fully secured. 



1 2 6 EPITAPHS. 



The following is from a Churchyard in 
Wiltshire, England : 

" Beneath this stone his own dear child,, 

Whose gone from we 

For evermore into eternity, 

Where we do hope we shall go to he 

But him can never more come back to we." 



In 1827, Rev. Elnathan Gridley, mission- 
ary, died at Cesarea. He was a physician as 
well as clergyman. A native Greek, Abraham 
by name, accompanied Mr. Gridley as teacher 
and attendant, and through his efforts, Mr. 
Gridley's grave was covered with a block of 
stone in which a marble slab was inserted, with 
appropriate inscriptions in English, Greek, and 
Turkish. They are as follows — the second 
having been translated from the Greek, and the 
last from the Turkish, by Abraham — : 
" Rev. Elnathan Gridley, Amer- 
ican Missionary from the 
United States, Born in 
Farmington of Con- 
necticut, 31 years 
and 55 days old 
27 Sept. 
1827. 



EPITAPHS. i2 7 



[From the Greek.] 

Here lies Elnathan Gridley, full of every virtue, 
Physician, divine Herald, and wise, very learned ; 
A shining star of the new world, which, with a 

great speed, 
Arose from the West and set in the East. 

[From the Turkish.] 

Perfect, wise, well instructed Physician, and meek 

Herald of the Gospel, 
Travelling the world, here I finished the great 

journey, 
In this tomb they confined me, the stranger called 

Gridley, 
Farewell, then, hereafter, all frivolous care." 



« An old gravestone on Long Island has the 
following : 

" In memory of 
Michal, wife of Nath'l Tuthill, 
who died Feb. 15, 1756. 
Beneath this little stone 
Does my beloved lie, 
O pity, pity me, whoever passeth by; 
And spend a tear at least, 
Or else a tear let fall, on my 
Sweet blooming rose, whom 
God so soon did call." 



128 EPITAPHS. 



In St. Bride's, Fleet street, London : 
" On William and Elizabeth Wever. 
Under this stone William Wever doth iy. 
Cityzon, and Elizabeth his wyf hym by. 
He died, the viij and she the vij day of September, 
Leving Geffrey, Mary, and Ellin, thar children as I 

remember. 
Whos sowls God receyve to favor and pease, 
Wyth joyes to lyve that nevyr sal cease. 1409." 



The following is a copy, verbatim et litera- 
tim^ from a stone in Windsor, Conn. : 

" Here Rests ye Last Rema- 
ins of Mr. Alexander McKin- 
stry ye Kind husband ten- 
der Parent Dutiful Son 
affectionate Brother Faith- 
ful Friend Generous Master 
compassionate and obliging 
e Neighbor ye unhappy 
hous looks Desolate & 
Mourns & Every Door 
Groans doalful as it turns 
Ye Fillers Languish and each 
Silent Wall in Grief lament 
Ye Masters Fall, who departed 
this life Novem : ye 9, 1759 
in ye 30th Year of bis Age." 



EPITAPHS. 129 



A book entitled "Memorable Characteris- 
tics, etc.," published in Glasgow, Scotland, in 
1754, has the following quaint Epitaph on 
Rev. John McClellan, written by himself a 
short time before his death. He was minister 
at Kircudbright from 1638 till 1650: 

" Come, stingless death, have o'er ! Lo, here's my pass 
In blood charactered, by his hand who was 
And is and shall be. Jordan, cut thy stream, 
Make channels dry ! I bear my Father's name 
Stamped on my brow. I am ravished with my 

crown, — 
I shine so bright ! Down with all glory, down, 
That world can give. I see the pearly port. 
The golden street, the blessed soul's resort, 
The tree of life, floods gushing from the throne, 
Call me to joys. Begone, short woes, begone ! 
I lived to die, but now I die to live. 
I do enjoy more than I did believe. 
The Promise me into possession sends, 
Faith in fruition, Hope in having ends." 



From an interesting work entitled " The 
Topographical and Historical Description of 
Boston," by N. B. Shurtleff, Esq., we take the 
following, which were copied from old burying 
grounds in Boston and vicinity : 



130 EPITAPHS. 



On a stone to the memory of Charles Wy- 
man, who died in 1785 : 

" Beneath these clods of silent dust, 
I sleep where all ye living must, 
The gayest youth and fairest face 
In time must be in this dark place." 



'* In memory of 
BETSEY, 

Wife of David Darling 

ated March 23d, 1809, M. 43. 

She was the Mother of 1 7 Children, and around 

her lies 1 2 of them, and 2 were lost at sea. 

Brother Sextons 

please to leave a clear birth for me 

near by this stone" 



" Here lyes ye Body of 
Mrs. Ammey Hunt wife of 

Mr. Benjamin Hunt 
Who died Nov. 26th, 1769, 
Aged 40 years. 
A sister of Sarah Lucus lieth here, 
Whom I did Love most Dear, 
And now her Soul hath took its Flight 
And bid her Spightful Foes good Night.' 



EPITAPHS' 



l 3 l 



On a circular brass plate, under a fine figure 
of a priest, in St. Peter's Church, at St. Alban's, 
England : 

" lo al y* j sp't y* su' tyme had i 
al y* i gaf j g'd e ie't y* n° w haf I 
y* I night gaf ne let y* now abie I 
y* y kepe til I w'et yt lost y." 

In full it would read as follows : 

Lo all that e'er I spent that sometime had T ; 

All that I gave in good intent that now have I ; 

That I neither gave nor lent that now abide I ; 

That I kept till I went that lost I." 



The following is taken from a tombstone in 
Watertown, Mass. : 

" Here lies the precious dust of 

A most desirable neigh- 



Thomas Bailey, 

A painful preacher, 

An eminent liver, 

A tender husband, 

A careful father, 

A brother in adversity, 

A faithful friend, 



J i 



bor, 
A pleasant companion, 
A common good, 
A cheerful doer, 
A patient sufferer, 
Lived much in little 

time. 



A good copy for all survivors. 
Aged 35 years. 
He slept in Jesus the 21st of January, 



132 



EPITAPHS 




" In memory of Urial, first son of Mr. Edmun & 
Mrs. Lydia Bradley, who died Sept. 20th, A. D. 
1788. Also of three pair of twins, who died, A. D. 
1788 I 89, & 1793 | 94 . 

See death remove the eldest son, 
Just as the family begin ; 
And three pair of twins in a short space 
To quicken us in the Christian race." 

The above, with the illustrations, were cop- 
ied from a stone in an old burying-ground in 
East Haven, Conn., and tradition says that 
"Mrs. Lydia Bradley" was the mother of 16 
children. 



EPITAPHS. 133 



The following is from a tombstone in New 
Milford, Conn. : 

" Rest here, my body, till the Archangel's voice 
more sonorous far than nine fold thunder, wakes the 
sleeping dead ; then rise to thy just sphere and be my 
house immortal. Composed by the 

deceased Partridge Thacher Esq." 



Thk two next following come from an old 
burying-ground in Dorchester, Mass. : 

"HERE-LIETH-BURIED- E-BODY-OF 

MR. - WILLIAM -POOI.E,- AGED -81 -YEARS 

WHO - DIED - YE -25TH- OF -FEBRUARY -IN 

YE-YERE 1674. 

Ye-epitaph-of-William-Pole-which-hee-himself-make 
while-he-was-yet-living-in-remembrance-of-his-own 
death-&-left-it-to-be-ingraven-on-his-tornb-yt-so 
being-dead-he-might-warn-posterity-or-a-resemblance 
of-a-dead-man-bespeaking-ye-reader. 
Ho-passenger-'tis-worth-thy-pains-too-stay 
&-take-a-dead-mans-lesson-by-ye-way 
J-was-what-now-thou-art &-thou-shalt be 
What-J-am-now-what-oods-twixt-me-&-thee 
Now-go-thy-way-bvt-stay-take-on-word-more 
Thy-staf-for-ought-thou-knowest-stands-ye-next-dore 
Death-in-ye-dore-yea-dore-of-Heaven-or-Hell 
Be-warned-be-armed-believe-repent-fairevvell.' , 



34 EPITAPHS. 



The following lines are on the head-stone of 
an old man who had performed the duties of 
Sexton many years : 

" This grave was dug and finished 

in the year 1833 

by 

Daniel Davenport 

when he had been Sexton 

in Dorchester 

twenty-seven years, 

had attended 1135 funerals, 

and dug 734 graves. 

As sexton with my spade I learned 

To delve beneath the sod ; 
Where body to the earth returned, 

But spirit to its God. 
Years twenty-seven this toil I bore, 

And midst deaths oft was spared. 
Seven hundred graves and thirty-four I dug 

Then mine prepared. 
And when at last I too must die 

Some else the bell will toll ; 
As here my mortal relics lie, - 

May heaven receive my soul." 

Mr. Davenport lived till i860, and perform- 
ed the duties of Sexton until 1852. 



EPITAPHS. 135 



At Oviedo, in Spain, at the entrance of the 
Church of San Salvador, is a monument erected 
by a Prince named Silo, on which is a curious 
Latin inscription, which may be read nearly 
three hundred different ways by beginning with 
the capital S as below : 

"Silo Princeps Fecit. 

ticefspec n cepsfecit 
icefspecn i ncepsfeci 
cefspecni r incepsfec 
efspecnirp rincepsfe 
fspecnirpoprincepsf 
specnirpoloprinceps 
pecnirpoliloprincep 
ecnirpolisiloprince 
pecnirpoliloprincep 
specnirpoloprinceps 
fspecnirpoprincepsf 
efspecnir p rincepsfe 
cefspecni r incepsfec 
icefspecn i ncepsfeci 
ticefspecn cepsfecit ." 

On the tomb are inscribed these letters : 

"h. s. e. s. s. t. t. l." 

Which are the initials of the following Latin 
words : 

" Hie situs est Silo, sit tibi terra levis." 
[Here lies Silo. May the earth lie lightly upon him.] 



136 EPITAPHS. 



At Saffron Walden, England, is the follow- 
ing to the memory of Thomas Holden, who 
died in 151 1 : 

'* Have mercy good Lord on the soul of Thomas 

Holden, 
That hit may rest wyth God good neyghbors say 

Amen. 
He gave the new organs whereon hys name is set ; 
For bycause only yee should not hym forget ; 
In your good preyers : to God he took hys wey, 
On thowsand fyve hundryd and elevin, in Novembyr 

the fourth dey." 

At the Churchyard in Bolsover, England, 1 
a stone to the memory of Charles Cavendish, 
who died in 1617, bearing these lines: 
" Sonnes seeke not me among those polish'd stones, 
These only hide part of my flesh and bones, 
Which did they ne're so neate, or proudly dwell, 
Will all be dust and may not make me swell. 
Let such as justly have out-liv'd all prayse, 
Trust in the Tombes their carefull Frends do raise, 
I made my life my Monument, and yours, 
To which there's no Material 1 that endures. 
Nor yet Inscription like it. Write but that, 
And teach your Nephews it to emulate. 
I will be matter loude inough to tell 
Not when I died, but how I liv'd. Farewell." 



EPITAPHS. 137 



The following is from Salisbury, Conn. : 
" The man is gone ! 

Mr. Samuel Moore, the eminent Mathematician, 
died Feb. 20th, 1810, M 75. His Life and Ser- 
vices ! ! ! these the Monument, this marble but the 
Tablet. Say then, He liv'd to benefit Mankind. 
Sway'd not by trifles, But by Science led, As Land- 
Surveyor. So like in all things, Like correct, This is 
the best image of the man. 

Our Fathers rest from their toils." 



A churchyard in Wiltshire, England, has 
the following to the memory of John and Alice 
Browning : 

"Death in a very good old age 
Ended our weary pilgrim stage, 
It was to we a end of pain, 
In hopes to enter life again." 



A gravestone in Lyons, N. Y., has this 
inscription : 

" Last ray of departed Hope ! Thou didst leave 
this world of sin and sorrow while thy Father was far 
away and thy sainted Mother in Heaven. But the 
Father of thy dear departed Mother did see that thy 
obsequies were properly performed." 



138 EPITAPHS. 



The general inscription for those who fell at 
Thermopylae was : 

" Four thousand from Peloponnesus once fought on 
this spot with three hundred myriads." 

And that which was special to the Spartans was 
still more memorable : 

" Stranger, go tell the Lacedemonians that we lie 
here obedient to their commands." 



On Thomas Boxer : 
" This ston his sacread to the memory of poer old 
Muster Thomas Boxer, who was loste in the good 
boate Rouver, just coming home with much fishes, 
got near Torbay, in the yeare of hour Lord 1722. 

Prey, goud fishermen, stop and drop a tear, 

For we hav lost his company here ; 

And where he's gone we cannot tell, 

But we hope far from the wicked Bell.* 
The Lord be with him." 



A Frenchman placed upon his mother's 
tombstone : 

" La premiere au rendezvous." f 

* Public house, probably, 
f First at the rendezvous. 



EPITAPHS. 139 



In Hadley Churchyard, Suffolk, England, is 
the following : 

" To free me from domestic strife, 

Death called at my house, but he 

Spoke with my wife. 

Susan, wife of David Patterson, lies here, 

Oct. 19, 1706. 

Stop reader, and if not in a hurry shed a tear." 



The following lines are on an old slab to the 
memory of Dea. Wm. Paddy, who died in 

1658: 

" HEAR . SLEAPS . THAT 
BLESSED . ONE . WHOES . LIEF 
GOD . HELP . VS . ALL . TO . LIVE 
THAT . SO . WHEN . TIEM . SHALL . BE 
THAT . WE . THIS . WORLD . MUST . LIUE 
WE , EVER . MORE . MAY . BE . HAPPY 
W ITH . BLESSED . WILLIAM . PADDY." 



The following lines, on the tombstone of a 
young woman accidentally drowned, Dec. 24, 
1696, may be found in St. Mary's Churchyard, 
York, England : 

" Nigh to the River Ouse, in York's fair city, 
Unto this pretty maid Death showed no pity ; 
As soon as she'd her pail with water filled, 
Came sudden Death, and Life like water spilled." 



140 EPITAPHS, 



The ancient burying-ground in New Lon- 
don, Conn., had a gravestone on which were 
the following lines : 

"An epitaph on Captaine Richard Lord, deceased 
May 17, 1662. jiEtatis svas 51. 
.... bright starre of ovr chivallrie lyes here 
to the state a covnsillovr fvll deare 
And to yk trvth a friend of sweete content 
To Hartford towne a silver ornament 
Who can deny to poore he was releife 
And in composing paroxyies he was cheife 
To MARCHANTES as a patterne he might stand 
Adventring dangers new by sea and land." 



Count De Tania, who had enjoyed every 
form of temporal prosperity, caused " Tandem 
felix " * to be inscribed on his monument. 



A tombstone in Pittsfield, Mass., has these 
lines : 

" When you my friends are passing by. 
And this informs you where I lie, 
Remember you ere long must have, 
Like me, a mansion in the grave. 
Also 3 infants, 2 sons and a daughter." 

* Happy at last. 



EPITAPHS. 141 



The following, from a burying-ground * in 
Windsor, Conn , is said to be the oldest in- 
scription on any monument in the State : 

"HEERE LYETH EPHRAIM HVIT, SOMETIMES TEACHER TO 
YE CHURCH OF WINDSOR, WHO DIED SEPTEMBER 
4TH, 1644. 
WHO WHEN HEE LIVED WEE DREW OVR VITALL BREATH, 
WHO WHEN HEE DYED HIS DYING WAS OVR DEATH, 
WHO WAS YE STAY OF STATE, YE CHVRCHES STAFF 
ALAS, THE TIMES FORBID AN EPITAPH. 1 '' 



In the town of Windsor, Me., on a point of 
land formed by the junction of the Kennebec 
and Sebasticoolc rivers, is a burial-ground in 
which may be found a gravestone with the fol- 
lowing inscription : 

** Here lies the body of Richard Thomas, 
an inglishman by birth. 

a Whig of '76. 

By occupation a cooper 

Now food for worms. 

Like an old rum puncheon 

marked numbered and shooked. 

He will be raised again 

and finished by his creator. 

He died Sept. 28 1824; aged 75. 

America my adopted country 
My best advice to you is this 
take care of your liberties." 



142 EPITAPHS, 



In the Churchyard at Patcham, England, 
over the grave of one who was shot while in 
the act of smuggling goods, is a stone with this 
inscription : 

" Sacred to the memory of 

Daniel Scales, 
who was unfortunately shot, on Tuesday evening 

Nov. 7, 1796. 
Alas, swift flew the fatal lead, 
Which pierced through the young man's head. 
He instant fell, resigned his breath, 
And closed his languid eyes in death. 
And you who to this stone draw near, 
Oh ! pray let fall the pitying tear. 
From this sad instance may we all 
Prepare to meet Jehovah's call." 



" Here lies Anderson, Provost of Dundee, 
Here lies Him, here lies He 
Hallelujah, Hallelujee ! 
A. B. C. D. E. F. G." 

We take the following amusing account of 
the origin of the above Epitaph from " Recrea- 
tions of a Country Parson," — an English work 
re-published in this country by Fields, Osgood 
& Co. : 

" It is recorded in history that a certain Mr. 



EPITAPHS- 143 



Anderson, who filled the dignified office* of 
Provost of Dundee, died, as even provosts 
must. It was resolved that a monument 
should be erected to his memory, and that the 
inscription upon it should be the joint composi- 
tion of four of his surviving colleagues in the 
magistracy. They met to prepare an Epitaph ; 
and, after much consideration, it was resolved 
that it should be a rhymed stanza of four lines, 
of which each magistrate should contribute one. 
The senior produced the following : 

'Here lies Anderson, Provost of Dundee.' 

The second magistrate, feeling that the idea 
was worth following, gave as his line : 

' Here lies Him, here lies He.' 

The third magistrate felt that the foundation 
had thus been substantially laid down, and that 
the time had come to erect upon it a superstruc- 
ture of reflection, inference, or exclamation. 
With the simplicity of genius, he wrote as 

follows : 

< Hallelujah, Hallelujee !' 

The Epitaph being thus, as it were, rounded 
and complete, the fourth contributor found 
himself in a difficulty. What should he do ? 



i 4 4 EPITAPHS. 



He would fall back on the earliest recollections 
of his youth — he would recur to the very fount 
and origin of all human knowledge. Seizing 
his pen, he wrote thus . 

'A. B. C. D. E. F. G: 
The Town council bestowed a vote of 
thanks upon the authors, and caused the stanza 
to be engraven on the worthy provost's monu. 
ment. I have not myself read it, but am 
assured it is in existence." 



The following is from a sailor's tombstone 
at Gibraltar : 

" Behold poor Lambly, by a fatal blow, 
Deprived of life, and sent to shades below. 
He was a sailor, and a good one too, 
And oft, Britannia, has he fought for you. 
But now, his days of fighting are all o'er, 
And he is sailing to some peaceful shore ; 
Nor will the jolly tar start tack or sheet 
Until he joins the grand celestial fleet, 
Who lay at anchor in a glorious Bay, 
Waiting for the Resurrection Day. 
When the Lord High Admiral of the fleet shall call 
All hands to muster, good & bad & all, 
In Heaven's great log-book may it then appear 
That this poor seaman kept his reckoning clear." 



EPITAPHS. 145 



A country Churchyard in Ayrshire, Scot- 
land, has a gravestone with the following 
singular inscription : 

" Wha is it that's lying here ? — 
Robin Wood, ye need na speer.* 
Eh Robin, is this you ? 
Ou aye, but I'm deid noo ! " 



In an old graveyard in Massachusetts, may 
be seen on a small marble headstone, which 
stands over the grave of an insane man, who 
died by his own hand, the following inscription : 

"Memento mori. 

Sacred to the memory of Mr. D B , 

Born -v * Died . 

Whose last dying words were, 

'To the war.' 

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. 

Sweet Jesus was resigned to his Father's will, 

And so was he who lies here still." 

The " last dying words " were found upon a 
piece of paper, on which the crazy man had 
been scribbling just before he committed the 
fatal act. 

*Ask. 



146 EPITAPHS. 



In i 718, at Stanton-Harcourt, some 9 miles 
from Oxford, England, two lovers, who were 
at work in the harvest-field, were instantly 
killed by lightning, — only a few days previous 
to their intended marriage. Pope, who had 
spent two summers at Stanton-Harcourt at 
about the time of this calamity, wrote the 
following Epitaph, which was engraved upon 
a tablet in the parish church : 

"Near this place lie the bodies 

of John Hewitt and Sarah Drew, 

An industrious young man 

And virtuous young maiden of this parish ; 

who, being at harvest-work 

(with several others), 

Were in one instant killed by lightning, 

The last day of July, 1718. 

Think not, by rigorous judgment seized, 

A pair so faithful could expire ; 
Victims so pure Heav'n saw well pleased, 

And snatched them in eternal fire. 

Live well, and fear no sudden fate ; 

When God calls victims to the grave, 
Alike 'tis justice soon or late, 

Mercy alike to kill or save. 

Virtue unmov'd can hear the call, 
And face the flash that melts the ball." 



EPITAPHS. 147 



At Banbury Churchyard, Oxfordshire, Eng- 
land, is the following : 

" To the memory of Ric. Richards, who by a gan- 
grene first lost a toe, afterwards a leg, and lastly his 
life, on the 7th of April, 1656. 
Ah ! cruel death to make three meals of one ! 
To taste, and eat, and eat till all was gofrie,^ 
But know, thou tyrant ! when the trump shall call, 
He'll find his feet, and stand when thou shalt fall." 



The four next following are all accurate 
copies from gravestones in the town of Vernon, 
Vermont : 

" Memento Mori. 
Here lies cut down like unripe Fruit 
A Son of Mr. Amos Tute — 
And Mrs. Jemima Tute his Wife, — 
Called Jonathan of whose frail Life 
The Days all summed how short the Account 
Scarcely to fourteen years amount 
Born on the Twelfth of May was He 
In Seventeen Hundred Sixty-Three 
To Death he fell a helpless Prey 
April the Five and Twentieth Day 
In Seventeen Hundred Seventy-Seven 
Quitting this world we hope for Heaven 
But tho his Spirits fled on High 



148 EPITAPHS. 



His Body mouldering here must lie — 
Behold the amazing alteration 
Effected by Innoculation — 
The means improved his Life to Save 
Hurried him headlong to the grave. 
Full in the Bloom of Youth he fell. 
Alas What human Tongue can tell 
The Mothers grief her anguish shew 
Or paint the Fathers heavier woe 
Who now no natural offspring has 
His ample Fortune to possess 
To fill hrs place Stand in his Stead 

or bear his name when he is dead 
So God ordained His ways are just 
Tho Empires Crumble in the Dust 
Life and the World mere Bubbles are 
Let loose to those for Heaven prepare. 



Mrs. Jemima Tute 
Successively Relict of Messrs. William Phipps, Caleb 
Howe and Amos Tute. The two first were killed 
by the Indians 

Phipps July 5th A. D. 1743 
Howe June 27th A. D. 1755 
When Howe was Killed She and her children 
Then Seven in number 
Were carried into Captivity 
The Oldest a Daughter went to France 



EPITAPHS. 149 



And was married to a French Gentleman 

The youngest was torn from her Breast 

And perished with hunger 

By the aid of some benevolent Gent'n 

And her own personal Heroism 

She recovered the Rest. 

She had two by her last Husband 

Outlived both him and them 

And died March 7th 1805 aged 82 

Having passed thro more vicisitudes 

And endured more hardships 

Than any of her cotemporaries. 

No more can Savage Foes annoy 

Nor aught her wide-spread fame destroy. 



In memory of 

Mr. Amos Tute 

Who died April 17th. 

1 790 in the 60th year of his 

age. 

Were I so tall to Reach the Pole 
Or grasp the Ocean v/ith my Span 
I must be measured by my Soul 
The mind's the Standard of the man. 



J5° 



EPITAPHS. 



The unfortunate Miranda 

Daughter of John and Ruth Bridgman, 

Whose remains are here interred, 

Fell a Prey to the Flames 
That consumed her Fathers House 
On ye nth of June 1797 
Aged 28. 
The room below flamed liked a Stove 
And cross for those who slept above 
She ventured on the trembling floor 
It Fell. She sunk and rose no more. 



At St. Mary Key, Ipswich, ob. 1643, aet. 3 

" On William Hasilwood. 
The Hasel nut oft Children crops 
God Haselwood in Childhood lopps 
Then Parent yield, God says hee's mine, 
And took him hence, say not hee's thine." 



At St. Mary Key, Ipswich, ob. 1614, aet. 92. 

"On John Warner. 
I Warner once was to myself 
Now Warning am to thee 
Both living, dying, dead I was, 
See then thou warned be." 



EPITAPHS. 151 



The following is from a cemetery in New- 
buryport, Mass. : 

" Death hath decomposed him and at the general 
resurrection Christ will re-compose him when percep- 
tion and thought shall resume their several functions 
and he shall become identically the same person, 
which deity composed him and shall be happy or 
miserable according to his dispositions. 
As falls the tree so man shall fall asleep 
And dormant lie till judgment's final doom 
When Christ shall raise him from the general heap 
And break the magic of the hungry tomb." 



Thk following we take from the "Springfield 
Republican " : 

"The 'first blood of the Revolution' has 
been commonly supposed to have been shed at 
Lexington, April 19, 1775, but Westminster, 
Vt., files a prior claim in favor of one William 
French, who, it is asserted, was killed on the 
night of March 13, 1775, at the king's court- 
house in what is now Westminster. At that 
time, Vermont was a part of New York, and 
the king's court officers, together with a body 
of troops, were sent on to Westminster to hold 
the usual session of the court. The people. 



52 EPITAPHS. 



however, were exasperated, and assembled in the 
court-house to resist. A little before midnight, 
the troops of George the Third advanced and 
fired indiscriminately upon the crowd, instantly- 
killing William French, whose head was pierced 
by a musket ball. He was buried in the 
churchyard, and a stone erected to his memory, 
with this quaint inscription : 

i In Memory of William French Who Was Shot at 
Westminster March ye 12th, 1775, by the hand of 
the Cruel Ministeral tools of Georg ye 3rd at the 
Court-house at a 1 1 o'clock at Night in the 22d year 
of his age. 

Here William French his Body lies 
For Murder his Blood for Vengence Cries. 
King Georg the third his Tory crew 
tha with a bawl his head Shot threw. 
For Liberty and his Countrys Good 
he Lost his Life his Dearest blood.' " 



This was copied from a gravestone in Eng. : 
" Here lies buried in this tomb 
A constant sufferer from salt rheum ; 
Which finally in truth did pass 
To spotted erysipelas ; 
A husband brave, a father true, 
Here he lies, and so must you." 



EPITAPHS. 153 



The following is from Beddington Church, 
in Surrey, England : 

" On Thomas Greknhill : 
Mors super virides monies. 
Thomas Greenhill born and bredd in the famous 
university of Oxon, Bachelor of Arts, and sometimes 
Student of Magd. Coll. Steward to the noble Knight 
Sir Nic s Carew, of Beddington, who deceased Sept. 
17, 1624. 

Under thy feet interr'd is here 

A native born in Oxfordshire ; 

First life and learning Oxford gave ; 

Surry him his death and grave : 

He once a Hill was fresh and Greene 

Now withered is not to be seene ; 

Earth in earth shovell'd up is shut, 

A Hill into a Hole is put; 

But darksome earth by Power Divine, 

Bright at last as the sun may shine." 



A discarded lover, who committed suicide, 
left the following lines for his tombstone : 
" Touch not this stone with pick or spade, 
For here it is that I am laid ; 
*Tis here I was by Cupid smitten, 
'Tis here I first received the mitten ; 
And whether I did wrong or right, 
I left this world Miss Blake to spite." 



54 



EPITAPHS. 



This is from the head-stone of a Block 
Island sea captain who had been engaged in 
the fishing business : 

" He's done a-catching cod 
And gone to meet his God." 



In Eversham Churchyard, in Oxfordshire, 

England, is the following : 

To ye memory of her dear husband, Mr. John 

Green, gent, 1652 : 

"Stay, reader, drop upon this stone 
One pitying tear, and then begone ! 
A handsome pile of flesh and blood 
Is here sunk down to its first mud ; 
Which thus in Western rubbish lies, 
Until the Eastern Star shall rise." 



The following expressive Epitaph was on a 
tombstone in Doncaster, England, bearing date 

1579 : 

" What I spent, I had, 

What I gave, I have, 

What I saved I lost." 



EPITAPHS. 



>55 



In Rishangles churchyard, Suffolk, England, 
on the tombstone of a youth, are the following 
lines : 

" A youth of real worth lies buried here, 

Who had but just attained his 17th year, 
Yet in that time such wisdom had he shown, 
That death mistook 17 for 71." 



In Thornham churchyard, England, are the 
following significant lines : 

" If drugs and physic could but save 

Us mortals from the dreary grave, 

'Tis known that I took full enough 

Of the Apothecary's stuff, 

To have prolonged life's busy feast 

To a full century at least ; 

But spite of all the doctor's skill, 

Of daily draught and nightly pill, 

Reader, as sure as you are alive, 

I was sent here at twenty-five." 



The following is from Kensington church- 
yard, England : 

" Here are deposited the remains of Mrs. Ann 
Floyer, the beloved wife of Mr. Richard Floyer, of 
Thistle Grove, in this parish, died on Thursday the 
8th of May, 1823. 

"God hath chosen her as a pattern for the other 
Angels." 



156 EPITAPHS. 



In the churchyard of Aliscombe, Devon- 
shire, is the following : 

" Here lie the remains of James Pady, brickmaker, 
late of this parish, in hopes that his clay will be 
re-moulded in a workmanlike manner, far superior to 
his former perishable materials. 

Keep death and judgment always in your eye, 
Or else the devil off with you will fly, 
And in his kiln with brimstone ever fry ; 
If you neglect the narrow road to seek, 
Christ will reject you like a half-burnt brick. 



This from a stone recently erected in a cem- 
etery in Hartford county, Conn. : 

God sent His messenger death, 

And called me suddenly from earth away ; 

Ere I had time to bid my fond wife good-bye. 

I hope that she for me will pray, 

That we may meet in Heaven some day. 



A tombstone in Warrington, England, to the 
memory of an engineer, has these lines: 
'* My engine now is cold and still : 
No water does my boiler fill ; 
My coke affords its Jlame no more ; 
My days of usefulness are o'er. 



EPITAPHS. 



l 57 



" My wheels deny their noted speed ; % 
No more my guiding hand they heed ; 
My whistle, too, has lost its tone : 
Its shrilling sounds are gone. 

M My valves are now thrown open wide 
My Jla?iges all refuse to guide ; 
My clacks also, though once so strong, 
Refuse to aid the busy throng. 

"No more I feel each urging breath — 
My steam is now condensed in death. 
Life's railway's o'er, each station's past — 
In death I'm stopped and rest at last. 
Farewell, dear friends, and cease to weep 
In Christ I'm safe, in Him I sleep." 



A widow in Portsmouth, England, caused 
the following lines to be placed on the tomb- 
stone of her husband : 

"Here lies Jemmy Little, a carpenter, industrious, 
A very good natured man but somewhat blusterous. 
When that his little wife his authority withstood, 
He took a little stick and bang'd her as he would 
His wife now left alone, her loss does so deplore, 
She wishes Jemmy back to bang her a little more ; 
For now he's dead and gone this fault appears so small, 
A little thing would make her think it was no fault at 
all." 



i 5 8 



EPITAPHS. 



In a churchyard in Cornish, England, may 
be seen the following : 

" In this ere graave ee zee bevore ee, 
Is berred up a desmal stoery. 
A young maiden she wor crost in love 
And tooken to the realms above. 
But he that crost her I shud say 
Desarves to go the toyther way." 



In Pine Hill Cemetery, East Taunton, 
Mass., is a stone bearing the following : 

In memory of Mr. David Dean, who died July 2, 
1783, in ye 27th year of his age. 

" Nine feet in height upon a stage, 
Active in health, in bloom of age ; 
But suddenly the stage gave way, 
He falls, he dies, here ends his day." 

It is said the house is now standing near the 
Plain school house, upon which the staging was 
erected, from which the above catastrophe 
occurred. 



A tombstone in New Hampshire has this 
inscription : 

"Sacred to the memory 
of three twins of — " 



EPITAPHS. 



159 



Among the remarkable inscriptions .which 
illustrate the virtues of the living and the dead, 
the quiet graveyard at Hamilton Square, N. J., 
contains the following : 

IN MEMORY OF 



Who departed this life Feb., 1843, 
aged 4 years and 4 days. 

The boiling coffee did on me fall, 

And by it I was slain. 
But Christ has bought my liberty, 

And in him I'll rise again. 



These lines are from a tombstone in Essex, 
England : 

i( Weep not for me my husband dear, 
Keep it in mind that I lies here, 
And have compassion on the nine 
Motherless children I left behind." 



A tombstone in Connecticut has the follow- 
ing: 

" Sweet is the memory of the dead 
While sleeping on his dusty bed ; 
His body sleeps in silence where 
No glimmering sun can enter there. 



160 EPITAPHS. 



The following is an accurate copy of an 
inscription on a tombstone in San Francisco, 
California : 

" Erected 

by 

Terrence Riley, 




In memory of John McPherson, native of 

Co. Downs, Ireland, aged Jo yrs. 
" Our bodies in this churchyard lie 
" Our spirits fled to God 
" Pray christians for the souls of those 
" That lie beneath this sod, 
" And when we reach the promised land 
" You'll not neglected be 
" We'll ne'er forget our faithful friends 
" Oh ! do remember We. 



At Islington, ob. 1808, aet. 27: 

" Elizabeth Emma Thomas. 
She had no fault save what travellers give the moon : 
Her light was lovely, but she died too soon." 



EPITAPHS 



1O1 



The two next following were found jn a 
newspaper published about the year 1800. The 
first was from the tombstone of Mrs. Elizabeth 
Pidgeon, who died suddenly: 

" Weep, reader, the sad tidings here announced ! 
Death, that fell Kite, on Betty Pidgeon pounced, 
Yet though her sudden flight our grief demands, 
Hers is the Pidgeon house not made with hands ; 
For in her life the Serpent's wisdom shone, 
And the Dove's innocency was her own. 
Then, till Heaven wakes to happiness the soul, 
Rest, gentle Pidgeon, in this Pidgeon hole." 



The next was evidently from the tombstone 
of one who was not held in high esteem : 
'* Here lies the vile dust of the sinfulest wretch, 
That ever the Devil delayed to fetch ; 
But the reader will grant it was needless he should 
When he saw him a coming as quick as he could." 



At Fosbroke, Northumberland, a stone bears 
these lines : 

Here lieth Matthew Hollingshead, 
Who died from cold caught in his head. 
It brought on fever and rheumatis, 
Which ended me, — for here I is. 



162 EPITAPHS. 



In the old burying-ground at Upham's Cor- 
ner, Dorchester, Mass., can be found the most 
ancient tombstone inscriptions in the United 
States, those at Jamestown, Va., alone excepted. 
The three next following are from this ground : 
How great a Blessing this Ruling Elder he, 
Unto this Church and Town & Pastors Three ? 
Mather he first did by him Help receive, 
Flint he did next his Burthen much relieve ! 
Renowned Danforth did he assist with skill. 
Esteemed High by all : Bear Fruit untill 
Yielding to Death his Glorious Seat did Fill. 



How very few like me survive, 
And reach the age of eighty-five ; 
Long time I trod this vale of tears, 
Till bending with a weight of years, 
I calmly sunk into the grave, 
Trusting Almighty power to save. 



A Woman well belov'd of all 

her neighbors ; for her care of small 

Folks education ; their number being great, 

that when she dy'd she scarcely left her mate. 

So Wise, Discreet, was her behaviours. 

She liv'd in love with all to dye. 

So let her rest to Eternity. 



EPITAPHS. 163 



In the churchyard of East Hucknell, Derby- 
shire, England, are the following lines in mem- 
ory of one of the park keepers of the Duke of 
Devonshire : 

" My gun's discharged, 

My ball is gone, 
My powder's spent, 

My work is done. 
Those panting deer 

I've left behind 
May now have time 

To gain the wind, 
Since I, who oft have 

Chased them o'er 
The verdant plains, 

Am now no more." 



In the churchyard of Cheltenham is the fol- 
lowing : 

" Here lies the body of Molly Dickie, the wife of 
Hall Dickie, tailor. 

Two great physicians first 
My loving husband tried, 
To cure my pain — 
In vain, 
At last he got a third, 
And then I died." 



64 EPITAPHS. 



The following is from a tombstone in thi 
Dissenters* cemetery near Bushill Fields : 

" Here lyeth 
The Body of Nicholas Latimer, Glover, 
Who departed this Life the 
25th day of April, 1677, 
and in the 70th Year of his Life. 
He was poor Widows' advocate, 
And many pounds for them he gote, 
Which he them gave without fail : 
His loss therefore they much bewail." 



The following is an accurate copy or an 
inscription upon a gravestone in Hartford 
County, Conn. : 

" To perpetuate the remembrance of one who, 
while living, was a resplendent ornament to humanity. 
His afflicted surviving relatives have erected this mon- 
ument as a votive offering to his peaceful remains." 



In St. Sepulchre's church, London, a mon- 
ument bears the following expressive and quaint 
inscription : — 

" To the living memory of his deceased friend Capt 
John Smith, some time Governor of Virginia and Ad- 



EPITAPHS. 165 



miralof New England, who departed this life the cist 
of June, 1631. 

Accordiamus, vincere est vivere. 
Here lies one conquered, that hath conquered kings, 
Subdued large territories, and done things 
Which to the world impossible would seem, 
But that the truth is held in more esteem. 
Shall I report his former service done, 
In honor of his God and Christendom ? 
How that he did divide from Pagans three 
Their heads and lives, types of his chivalry ; 
For which great service in that climate done, 
Brave Sigismundus (King of Hungarion) 
Did give him as a coat of arms to wear 
Those conquered heads got by his sword and spear ? 
Or shall I tell of his adventures, since 
Done in Virginia, that large continent ? 
How that he subdued kings unto his yoke, 
And made those heathen flee as wind doth smoke ; 
And made this land, being of so large a station 
A habitation for our Christian nation, 
Where God is glorified, their wants supplied, 
Which for necessaries, might have died ? 
But what avails his conquest, now he lies 
Interred in earth, a prey to worms and flies ? 
O may his soul in sweet Elysium sleep, 
Until the keeper, that all souls doth keep 
Return to judgment; and that after thence, 
With angels he may have his recompense." 



66 



EPITAPHS, 



A letter from Yazoo City, Miss., to the St. 
Louis Republican, gives the following tombstone 
inscription, found in the cemetery near that 
place : 

" Here lies interred, Priscilla Bird, 

Who sang on earth till sixty-two, 
Now up on high above the sky, 
No doubt she sings like sixty, too. 



The National Baptist gives the following as 
the epitaph on the grave of an eminent Baptist 
divine and an especial authority in casuistry, 
the Rev. Levi Philetus Dobbs, D. D. : 
" Put away the steel-bowed glasses 
That the Doctor used to wear ; 
He no longer needs their assis- 
tance, he's climbed the golden stair." 



While our soldiers were on Ship Island a 
poor colored man, who had been a slave, died, 
and the head board at his grave bore the follow- 
ing : 

" This poor old slave has gone to rest, 

We know that he is free, 
Disturb him not but let him sleep 

Way down on Ship Islee." 



EPITAPHS. 167 



A cemetery near Philadelphia has a stone 
on which is the following : 

"In memory of Henry Wang, son of his Father 
and Mother, John and Maria Wang. Died Dec. 
31st, 1829, aged 1-2 hour. The first deposit of this 

yard. 

A short-lived joy 
Was our little boy. 
He has gone on high 
So don't you cry." 



On a tombstone at Little Stukely, in Hunt- 
ingdonshire, England, is the following : 
" Sacred to the memory of the 
Rev. Joshua Waterhouse, B. D., 
Nearly forty years fellow of Catherine Hall, Cam- 
bridge, Chaplain to his Majesty, Rector of this Parish, 
and of Coton, near Cambridge, who was inhumanly 
murdered in this Parsonage House, about 10 o'clock 
on the morning of July 3rd, 1827. Aged 8i. 
Beneath this tomb his mangled body's laid, 
Cut, stabbed and murder'd by Joshua Slade, 
His ghastly wounds a horrid sight to see, 
And hurl'd at once into eternity. 
What faults you've seen in him take care to shun, 
And look at home, — enough there's to be done ; 
Death does not always warning give, 
Therefore be careful how you live." 



168 EPITAPHS. 



At Evansburg, Montgomery County, Penn., 
in the graveyard near St. Mary's Church, and 
on the left hand side as you enter the enclosure, 
an old stone thus chronicles an affliction to the 
Bean family in the loss of their son Jesse : — 

" Stop reader ! stop ! for friendship claims a tear, 
A mother's favorite son, her Bean lies buried here." 



This from Yarmouth (England) churchyard: 

"To the memory of George Griffiths, of the Shrop- 
shire Militia, who died Feb. 26th, 1807, in conse- 
quence of a blow received in a quarrel with his com- 
rade. 

Time flies away as nature on its wing. 
I in a battle died (not for my King.) 
Words with my brother soldier did take place, 
Which shameful is, and always brings disgrace. 
Think not the worse of him who do remain, 
For he as well as I might have been slain." 



At Jovington, Sussex, ob. 1808, aet. 13 

and 7 : 

" Samuel and John Purland. 
Parents dear, weep not for we 
Though we were drowned in the Sea 
'Twas God that did ordain it so ; 
And when he calls we all must go." 



EPITAPHS. 169 



The following quaint epitaph, copied frpm a 
monument in the porch of St. Peter's Church, 
Wolverhampton, England, appears in an Eng- 
lish journal : 

" Near this place lies Charles Claudius Philips, 
whose absolute contempt of riches and inimitable per- 
formances on the violin made him the admiration of 
all who knew him. He was born in Wales, made the 
tour of Europe, and after an experience of both kinds 
of fortune, died in 1732. 

" Exalted soul, thy various sounds could please 
The lovesick Virgin, and the Gouty Ease ; 
Could jarring crowds like old Amphion move 
To beauteous order and harmonious love ; 
Here rest in peace till Angels bid thee rise, 
And join thy Saviour's concert in the skies." 



" Robert Sleath. Ob. 1805. 
He kept the turnpike-gate at Worcester, and de- 
manded toll from His Majesty, on his visit to Bishop 
Hurd, from this circumstance he was ever after called, 
* the man who stopped the King.' 

On Wednesday last old Robert Sleath 
Passed through the turnpike-gate of Death. 
To him would Death no toll abate, 
Who stopped the King at Wor'ster gate." 



170 



EPITAPHS. 



At Islington : 

"John Webster. Ob. 1809, *t 8. 
(Killed by a cart wheel going over his head.) 
Ye little children that survey, 

The emblemed wheel that crush'd me down, 
Be cautious, as you careless play, 

For shafts of death fly thick around. 
Still rapid drives the car of time, 

Whose wheels one day shall crush you all; 
The cold low bed that now is mine, 

Will soon be that of great and small." 



A correspondent of the New York Evening 
Post furnished that paper with the five next 
following, which, he says, he copied from tomb- 
stones mostly in England: 

Sensitive to the last : 
" Aianinta Taylor (how do we regret her!) 
Departed this life for a state much better ; 
She was gentle and lovely and not over bold, 
But her age is a thing that remains untold ; 
She grew younger and younger as years passed away, 
Then a cypher became, while nought went to decay. 
The poor foolish creature, hating to grow old, 
Has gone now, praise God ! where years are untold ; 
And there may she revel, a venerable sage, 
With no one to bother her by asking her age." 



EPITAPHS, 



7* 



On a drummer: , 

" Tom Clark was a drummer, who went to the war, 
And was killed by a bullet, and his soul sent for ; 
There were no friends to mourn him, for his virtues 

were rare, 
He died like a man, and like a Christian bear," 



On a patriot : 
" Here lies a soldier, under this stone. 
Stop, passer-by, and heave a groan ; 
Groan, did I say ? No, hurrah ! for he is happy I 

ween, 
Singing Hail Columbia, Yankee Doodle and God 

Save the Queen, 
In the land of glory, where he has become by this 

time a cherubim. Amen." 



A rare specimen : 
" My wifey has left me, she's gone up on high, 
She was thoughtful while djlng, and said, 'Tom, 

don't cry.' 
She was a great beauty, so every one knows, 
With Hebe-like features and fine Roman nose; 
She played the piany, and was learning a ballad, 
When she sickened and die-did from eating veal 

salad." 



72 EPITAPHS 



On a harpist : 
" Mary Somers was with us but twenty short years ; 
She departed this life *mid a torrent of tears ; 
She was a fine musician, and played well on the 

harp — 
So thought the angels who floated by in the dark ; 
They wanted a harpist to join their good band, 
So seized her, and flew to a far better land." 



A precocious child : 

" Alas ! why should I cry to-day 

For one who could no longer stay ? 

My darling Hannah ! 

This child could read, and write, and spell, 

Could say her ' Tables ' very well, 

And play her ma's Piana. 

God bless my little Hannah ! 

Who plays now Heaven's Piana." 



The following epitaph, now first in print in 
this country, was copied by a clergyman from 
a monument on the outside of the churchyard 
wall at Hadiscoe, Norfolk, England [Harper's 
Monthly) : 

" Here lies Will Salter, honest man — 

Deny it, envy, if you can ; 



EPITAPHS . 173 



True to his business and his trust, 
Always punctual, always just; 
His horses, could they speak, would tell 
They loved their good old master well. 
His up-hill work is chiefly done, 
His stage is ended, race is run. 
One journey yet remaineth still, 
To climb up Zion's Holy Hill, 
And, now his faults are all forgiven, 
Elijah-like, drive up to heaven, 
Take the reward of all his pains, 
And leave to other hands the reins. 
WILLIAM SALTER, 

YARMOUTH STAGE-COACHMAN, 

DIED OCTOBER 9, 1 776, 

AGED 59 YEARS." 



The four next following were copied from 
tombstones in an old burying ground in Antrim, 
N. Hampshire : 

The first is on an infant who died in 1800 : 
" The first born falls, in infancy or age, 
Though hero, beauty, idiot or sage. 
'Tis fate dispenses death's all piercing darts 
Through infant innocence or harder hearts." 



174 



EPITAPHS. 



And this in 1791 : 

Fresh in ye morn ye summer rose 
Hangs withered ere its noon, 
We scarce enjoy ye balmy gift 
But mourn ye pleasure gon. 



And this in 1814: 

O blooming youth, how strong the ties, 
'Tis our greatest hopes that soonest dies. 
What shall we hope, what shall we have, 
Since all is hast'ning to the grave ; 
Mourn not for me or departed friends, 
Since more substantial things depends ; 
Love God, receive an hundred fold, 
And eternal joys untold. 



The following is dated in 1786 : 
Down in the Tomb my sprightly limbs I lay. 
My active members mingle with ye clay; 
Yet God is just who claims my vital Breath, 
And dooms my Flesh to rot beneath ye earth ; 
Then think on Death, serve Christ without delay, 
And don't forget this debt which you must pay. 

The rising morning can't assure 

That we shall end the Day, 

For Death stands ready at the Door, 

To seize our Lives away. 



EPITAPHS. 



175 



The following is an accurate copy from a 
tombstone in New London County, Conn. : 
'* Parents, sisters, brothers dear, 
Now I am gone and left you here, 
You used to set and hear me sing 
And play upon my seraphine, 
But now I sing the heavenly song 
With all the holy blood washed throng." 



AN OLD BURTING-GROUND. 

BY REV. J. W. CHTCKERING, D. D. 

On the 19th of April, 1775, the British 
troops, closely followed by the heroes of Lex- 
ington and Concord, passed by the foot of a 
long ridge in the latter village, on which, even 
then, was an ancient burial place. 

It still remains, seldom used, but not neg- 
lected, with well-worn paths leading to some 
noted graves. It is essentially unchanged for 
the last generation, during the growth and im- 
provement of the pleasant old town, many of 
whose honored dead it holds. 

I will not moralize, though it is a suggestive 
place to stand in and look down on the busy 
streets which memory repeoples with the vene- 
rated ancestors — one of them a hero of the 



176 EPITAPHS. 

"Concord fight," who, "sixty years since," so 
often kindly welcomed the little grandchild. 

But, in the character of Scott's "Old Mortal- 
ity," I will bring to light a few of the old 
inscriptions. 

One is on white marble, as follows : 

This stone is designed by its durability to perpetuate 

the memory, and by its color to represent 

the moral character of 

ABIGAIL DUDLEY, 

who died April, 1814, 

aged 73. 

Another commemorates a little girl of u 7 

" Excellent for her reading and soberness." 

What a pen picture, at a single stroke, of a 

prim and proper little maiden. Few such now- 

a-days. 

The most remarkable inscription, deserving 
to be reprinted every few years, is that over the 
grave of a slave who died just a century ago. It 
is as follows : 

God wills us free. 

Man wills us slaves. 

I will as God wills. 

God's will be done. 



EPITAPHS. 



177 



HERE LIES THE BODY OF 
JOHN JACK, 

a native of Africa, who died in March, 1773, 

aged about 60. 

Though born in a land of slavery, 

He was born free. 

Though he lived in a land of liberty, 

He lived a slave, 

'Till by his honest tho' stolen labors 

He acquired the source of slavery, 

Which gave him his freedom 

Tho' not long before Death, the grand tyrant 

Gave him his final emancipation, 

And set him on a footing with kings. 

Though a slave to vice 
He practised those virtues 
Without which kings are but slaves. 

The author of this unique specimen of antith- 
esis is unknown. But it certainly displays no 
little talent, and proves that the writer had 
thought deeply upon the anomalous system 
whose entire overthrow within a century he 
could hardly have anticipated. 

Would that all the ancient graveyards in our 
unancient country were as carefully kept, and 
the most noticeable epitaphs renewed, as this 
last has evidently been, on fresh stones, before 
becoming illegible. 



l 7 8 EPITAPHS 



The following is an accurate copy of an 
inscription on a tombstone in "Bunhill Field" 
churchyard, London : 

"Dame Mary Page. 
In sixty-seven months 
She was tapped 66 times 
Had taken away 240 gallons of water 
Without ever repining at her case 
Or ever fearing the operation." 



It is possible — barely possible — though we 
doubt it, that two epitaphs more extraordinary 
than the two following can be found. They 
are English, and now for the first time appear 
in American type [Harper's Monthly) : 

" Elizabeth, 

the Wife of Richard Barklamb, 

passed to Eternity on Sunday, 21st May, 1797, 

in the 71st year of her age. 

Richard Barklamb, 

the Anti-spouse Uxorious, 

was interred here 27th January, i8o6 £ 

in his 84th year. 

William Barklamb, 

Brother to the preceding. 

September 5 th, 1799, aged 68 years. 



EPITAPHS. i 79 



When terrestrial all in chaos shall exhibit effervesence, 
Then celestial virtues with their full, effulgent, brilliant 

essence, 
Shall with beaming beauteous radiance through the 

ebullition shine, 
Transcending to glorious regions, beatifical, sublime; 
Then human power absorbed, deficient to delineate 

such effulgent lasting sparks, 
Where honest plebeians ever will have precedence 

over ambiguous great monarchs. 

Mike was in tempur and in sole sinsere 
Ann Husband tendur and a fathur deere 

He was a fathur kind 

And modist was his mind 

A great blessin to a umman 

Never mor was givn 
Nor a greeter loss eksept the loss of heavn." 



In a cemetery near Lake Champlain, in Ver- 
mont, a stone bears these significant lines : 

" A woman's care 

So numerous are 

A man can never know 

Three children fair 

She left in care 

Of him in whom she trusted on." 



8o EPITAPHS. 



The churchyard in Enfield, England, has a 
tombstone with the following inscription, to the 
memory of one who had been surveyor to the 
New River Company : 

" Here lies John White, who day by day 
On river works did use much clay, 
Is now himself turning that way. 
If not to clay, yet dust will come, 
Which to preserve takes little room, 
Although inclosed in this great tomb." 



A churchyard near Salisbury, England, 
has a stone with the following : 

" On Richard Button, Esq. 
Oh ! Sun, Moon, Stars, and ye Celestial Poles, 
Are graves then dwindled into Button Holes ! " 



In a marble yard in Hartford, Conn., a 
grave-stone was recently completed bearing 
these lines : 

" When all of you this stone you see, 

And think of the two who lieth here, 
That we was once the same as ye now be, 

When turn ye away and leave us here 
But remember that in time you must die 
And turn to dust as well as I." 



EPITAPHS. 181 



On a brass plate in the church of Aughton, 
England, are these lines : 

"Jesus Salvator. 
My ancestors have been interred here above 380 years, 
This to me by ancient evidence appears ; 
Which that all may know and none do offer wrong, 
It is ten feet and one inch broad, and four yards and 

a half long. Amen. 
Richard Mossock, 1686, 
God save the King to the greate glory of God." 



The following, which has become quite 
famous, was written by Benjamin Franklin for 
his own tomb : 

"The Body 

of 

Benjamin Franklin, Printer, 

(Like the cover of an old book, 

Its contents torn out, 

And stript of its lettering and gilding,) 

Lies here food for worms. 

Yet the work itself shall not be lost, 

For it will (as he believed) appear once more 

in a new 

and more beautiful Edition, 

Corrected and Amended 

By 

The Author." 



i8z EPITAPHS. 



A tombstone in New Haven has these lines: 
" She was a beloved wife, and an affectionate 
Mother; and their loss is her gain." 



In an old burying-ground in Hartford, a stone 
bears these lines : 

" Now she is dead she cannot stay, 

And from her cheek doth fade the rose, 

Which of us next shall follow her, 
The Lord Almighty only knows." 



The six next following are to be found i 
the cemetery at Amherst, Mass. : 

1808. 
ft To all my aged friends 
Though health & robust 
Are totering round the grave 
& soon must turn to dust. ?s 



in 



1783- 

" Death is a debt 
To Nature due 
Which I have paid 
And so must you." 



EPITAPHS. 183 



1812. 
' ■ My children dear, this place draw near, 

A mother's grave you see ; 
Not long ago I was with you, 

And soon you'll be with me." 



1814. 

" Some weeping friends may drop a tear 

On these dry bones & say 
They once were strong as mine appear 

And mine must be as they." 



1817. 
On a youth 17 years old : 

*' Prepare before it is too late, 
Lest you should meet with sorrow; 
Attend to this youthful date, 
And boast not of to morrow." 



1823. 

" O death, insidious death, 
Why did'st thou lurk unseen, 
And not one premonition give; 
Silence 'tis thy prerogative, 
God hath so ordained." 



EPITAPHS. 



The following lines may be seen on a grave- 
stone in Cheshire, Conn. : 

" I pass, with melancholy state, 
By all these solemn heaps of fate, 
And think as soft and sad I tread 
Above the venerable dead 
Time was like me they life poss'd 
And time will be when I shall rest." 



The two following were written, but never 
used. 

Many years ago a circle of friends at New- 
buryport, Mass., were amusing themselves by 
impromptu epitaphs for each other. Miss Han- 
nah F. Gould, the poetess, wrote the following 
for Caleb Cushing, one of the party, then a 
lawyer, and somewhat ambitious for political 
preferment : 

" Lay aside, all ye dead, 
In the very next bed 
Reposes the body of Cushing : 
He has crowded his way 
Through the world, as they say, 
And even though dead, may be pushing" 



EPITAPHS. 



In his turn, Mr. Cushing ofYered the follow- 
ing on Miss Gould : 

" Here lies one whose wit, 
Without wounding, could hit ; 
Oh ! green be the turf that's above her ! 
Having sent every beau 
To the regions below, 
She has gone down herself for a lover" 



The following is an accurate copy from a 
tombstone in the new cemetery at Saratoga, 
N. Y. : 

" Mother — so of us — so our own — 

So lately such as we — 
How can we think the letter'd stone, 
So simple, means eternity ! " 



1 86 EPITAPHS. 



The following is from a monument to the 
Scotch Covenanter martyrs at Rullion Green : 
Here 
And nar to 
I this place lyes the 

Reverend M r John crookshank 
and m r Andrew m c cormock 
ministers of the Gospel and 
About fifty other true coven- 
anted Presbyterians who were 
kilied in this place in their own 
Innocent self defence and def- 
fence of the covenanted 
work of Reformation By 
Thomas D a 1 z i e 1 of Bins 
upon the 28 of november 
1666. Rev. 12-11. Erected 
Sep. 28 1738. 



On the other side of the tablet we have the 
poetry, such as it is : 

A Cloud of Witnesses lyes here, 
Who for Christ's Interest did appear, 
For to Restore true Liberty 
Overturned then by tyranny. 
And by proud Prelats who did Rage 
Against the Lord's own heritage. 



EPITAPHS. 187 



They sacrificed were for the laws * 

Of Christ their king his noble cause. 
These heroes fought with great renown 
By falling got the martyrs crown. 



The four next following are from a cemetery 
at Bound Brook, N. J. 

Let sorrow for Eliza's Early Doom 

No more in silence sigh 
There is a hope beyond the tomb 

Bids -every tear be dry 1826. 



Joseph Blackford, died 1804, 44th year of 
age. 

Here lies the patron of his time 
Blackford expired in his prime 
Who three years short of 47 
Was found full ripe and fit for heaven 
But for our loss were 't in my power 
I'd weep an everlasting shower. 

The way in which forty-four is here made 
to rhyme with heaven is a beautiful example of 
poetic elasticity. The picture of profuse tear- 
fulness is even more graphic than that given by 
the young preacher who said that he had "wept 
barrels of tears " over some of his shortcomings. 



1 88 EPITAPHS. 



In memory of Adam Jobs, March 10, 1798. 

O let not selfish love presume 
To drop a sigh o'er Jobs's tomb. 
While sad regrets our minds employ 
He triumphs in a world of joy. 



In memory of a man and wife 
John A Austen & Nancy Oliver 
Twenty sixth of January 1831. 
She closed her life 
29 Dec 1846 he followed her. 
She lived a christian many years 
And died aged sixty one 
Seventy nine her age appears 
Both underneath this stone. 



The old graveyard of Dunstable contains 
the following sad but comical epitaph : 
Here lies the body of Thomas Lund who departed 
This life Sept. 24, 1724, in the 42d year of his age. 
This man, with seven more that lies in this grave, 

Was all slew in a day by the Indians. 



And here is another, shorter, but more to 
the point : 

*' Died from swallowing the tip of an ombrel right 
into the lungs." 



EPITAPHS. 



An avaricious minister receives reprobation 
in the following, at West Allington Church- 
yard, Devonshire, in which county it is the 
custom to pay a fee to the clergyman when a 
corpse is carried into the church. The youth 
died of virulent small-pox. 

" Here lyeth the body of Daniel JefFery, the son 
of Michael JefFery, and Joan his wife. He was 
buried the 2' day of September, 1746, & in ye 18' 
yeare of his age. This youth, When in his sickness 
lay, did for the Minister Send* that he would Gome 
and With him Pray* But he would not attend* 
But When this young man Buried was the Minister 
did him admit * he should be carried into Church * 
that he might money geet. By this you See what 
man will dwo * to geet money if he can * Who did 
Refuse to come and pray * By the Foresaid young 
man." 



Here is an epitaph recently copied from a 
tombstone in one of the graveyards of Spencer, 
Mass.: 

" As I lie mouldering in my grave, 

No mother will my children have ; 

They will go crying after me, 

Saying, ' O where is marm, where can she be ?' " 



190 EPITAPHS. 



A very eccentric man recently died in West 
Roxbury, Mass., at the age of nearly eighty 
years. Several years ago he erected his own 
monument in the cemetery at Stoughton, with 
the following inscription, leaving a blank for 
the date of his death: 

Erected by some of the Masonic brethren in 
honor of Ebenezer W. Tolman, Esq. He was born 
in March 12, 1798. He was Worshipful Master of 
Rising Star Lodge, and Most Excellent High Priest 
of Mount Zion Royal Arch Chapter in Stoughton, 
Mass. ; a member of the M. E. Royal Arch Chapter 
of the Commonwealth, and Thrice Illustrious Grand 
Master of the Adoniram Council, and a permanent 
member of the Most Puissant Grand Council of the 
State of Georgia. Through his Masonic skill, wis- 
dom and influence it was called, organized and estab- 
lished at the Grand Masonic Convention, over which 
he presided. He was a member of the Orthodox 
Church, and an honest man. He was appointed 
Justice of the Peace for the last fourteen years in 
Suffolk County, and twenty-eight years in Norfolk 
County, and Justice of the Peace and Quorum for 
all the counties in the Commonwealth of Massachu- 
setts. He was buried with Masonic grand honors. 
A Masonic procession was formed, preceded by a 
full band of music. His remains were carried into 
the Orthodox Church, where religious services were 



EPITAPHS. 191 



performed, consisting of solemn music by the choir, 
the whole congregation standing and joining with the 
choir. Addresses were made, prayers, etc. The 
grand procession was again formed and proceeded to 
the old cemetery, where Masonic services with grand 
Masonic honors were performed. After the services 
the body was deposited in the Tolman family tomb. 
Unfortunately for the truth of history as 
embodied in this ante-mortem epitaph, the cir- 
cumstances of Mr. Tolman's burial did not at 
all fulfill his desires. 



A head-stone in an old local cemetery in 
Athol, Mass., bearing date of January 21, 
1792, has the following queer inscription : — 

With graceful and engaging mein 

She trod the carpet and the green, 

With such refulgent virtues deckt, 

As gain'd her wide and warm respect. 

Prim health sat blooming on her cheeks, 

Till fortune played her cruel freaks, 

Her limbs in tort'ring pains confined 

That wrecked her joints tho' not her mind, 

By faith and patience fortifi'd 

The rudest tempests to abide, 

'Bove which she soar'd to realms of bliss, 

Where Jesus hail'd her with a kiss. 



192 EPITAPHS. 



A man named Church lost four wives who 
were buried in the same lot. In course of time 
it became necessary to remove the remains to 
another cemetery. The bereaved husband un- 
dertook the job himself, but in conveying the 
sainted dead in a furniture wagon the bones 
unfortunately got mixed, and, when ready for 
re-interment, even Church himself was unable 
to tell which was Emily and which was Hannah, 
etc. Being a very scrupulous man, after having 
performed the service of burial, and feeling that 
it would be wrong to use the old headstones, he 
procured new ones on which the inscriptions 
were as follows: " Here lies Hannah Church, 
and probably a portion of Emily, who was 
born," etc. On another stone, as follows : 
" Sacred to the memory of Emily Church, who 
seems to be mixed with Matilda, who was 
born," etc. Then follow these lines : 

" Stranger pause and drop a tear 

For Emily Church lies buried here, 

Mixed in some perplexing manner 

With Mary, Matilda and probably Hannah." 



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